Three Israeli PM hopefuls talk unity

JERUSALEM, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- All three candidates to be Israeli prime minister said they would from a unity government should their parties come out on top in Tuesday's election.

Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu, Labor leader Ehud Barak and Kadima chief Tzipi Livni told national television viewers Sunday they'd assemble wide national unity governments, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

"I think we (Likud) are going to form the next government," Netanyahu said during a televised forum on Israel's Channel 2. "I have no agreements with anyone but I have faith in the good sense of the Israeli voter, who understands that we want a stable government with a backbone and wants our leadership."

"The public so wants to see unity between Labor, Kadima and Likud in the next government," Barak said.

Livni said she'd consider bringing Avigdor Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu into a coalition, even with his controversial stance of denying citizenship to Israeli Arabs deemed to be disloyal, Haaretz reported.

"I will sit in a government set as I dictate, according to the ideology of Kadima. Anyone who wants can join this way," Livni said.