Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israeli President Shimon Peres for a two-week extension to form his government on Friday.

Netanyahu arrived at Peres' Jerusalem residence to make the formal request.

Following Israeli's elections last month, where Netanyahu's Likud party came second but with the strongest likelihood of forming a coalition, the country's constitution gave the prime minister- designate 28 days to form a government, with a 14-day extension option.

Ankara  - Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu should recognize Palestine as a state if Israel genuinely wants lasting peace in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday night.

Keeping up his fierce criticism of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, Erdogan said the only solution to the problem is for Hamas to be brought to the negotiating table.

Gaza/Ramallah - The Palestinian Authority on Saturday called on a Likud-led Israeli government to recognise previous peace agreements on the occupied territories, as Benjamin Netanyahu appeared set to become Israeli prime minister.

Netanyahu was asked on Friday to form a coalition government by Israeli President Shimon Peres, despite his Likud party falling one seat behind the Tzipi Livni-led Kadima party in this month's elections.

Jerusalem  - Israeli Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu moved closer Thursday to being asked to form Israel's next government, after a key faction holding the balance of power recommended that President Shimon Peres nominate him as premier.

The move by the Yisrael Beteinu party capped days of speculation as to which prospective candidate - Netanyahu or outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - would get its backing.

Tel Aviv  - Despite his narrow gap in exit polls behind the ruling Kadima Party of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Tuesday's Israeli elections and said he would become Israel's next prime minister.

He noted the right wing block had become a majority in the Knesset and his Likud had more than doubled its mandate in the Israeli Parliament.

Tel Aviv  - Few people feel neutral about Israeli prime ministerial hopeful and Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

His enemies accuse him of being untrustworthy, duplicitous, devious, unscrupulous and of having been an incompetent premier during his 1996 to 1999 tenure.

They point to the fact that while he began his tenure in the prime minister's office with comparisons to John F Kennedy (mainly because of his young age), he ended it abandoned by coalition allies and castigated by just about everyone else.