Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks likely to swear in his new, hardline right-wing government next week, after signing a final coalition deal with a nationalist party.
Netanyahu's coalition of five parties - right-wing, ultra-Orthodox Jewish or both - will have 61 of the 120 members of the Knesset.
If all goes to plan and the government is sworn in on Monday, this will be the prime minister's fourth term.
The Haaretz newspaper reported that as part of an 11th-hour deal, the Jewish Home party would get the Justice Ministry as well as the agriculture portfolio, which would give the hardline group control over budgets for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu's former foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, pulled out of the coalition, giving Jewish Home an unexpected upper hand in the negotiations.
Netanyahu would have been unable to form government without the backing of the nationalist party.
Exceeding predictions, Netanyahu's right-wing, nationalist Likud won 30 seats in the March 17 election.
However, he was still forced to form a coalition, as has always been the case in Israel's political system.
This would be the most openly right-wing coalition in recent times, lacking a party insisting on peace talks with the Palestinians.
"The new government of Netanyahu, which is a narrow right-wing one, is against peace and (will) lead the region to more violence, bloodshed and radicalism," said Saeb Erekat, the top Palestinian official in charge of peace negotiations with Israel.
The White House press secretary said in a statement that US President Barack Obama "looks forward" to working with the prime minister and the new government - some of the friendliest words in recent months between the two allies.
The White House pledged close cooperation on security issues and on the negotiations aimed at keeping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Isaac Herzog, head of the Labour Party, which is now set to head the opposition, called the new coalition "the most narrow in the history of Israel".
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