Jerusalem - Coalition talks between Israel's rightwing Likud party and Mr Ehud Barak, the prime minister-elect, broke down yesterday amid signs he had opted to make the powerful ultra-Orthodox Shas faction his key political partner.
"I do not see a way for Likud to join a government. It is heading into the opposition," Mr Ariel Sharon, Likud's acting leader, said after a meeting with Mr Barak which lasted only five minutes.
Mr Barak, who won the May 17th general election by a landslide as head of the Labour-led One Israel Alliance, is now widely expected to pursue a coalition with Shas.