(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY KEVIN DUBOUIS

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

For the fifth time in nearly two decades, Israelis elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leader of the right wing Likud party.

The Telegraph reports Tuesday wasn’t just any win — he got 3/4s of the vote.

“The size of his victory will boost Mr Netanyahu, who has faced criticism from some within his traditionally hawkish party for accepting the notion of Palestinian statehood. Senior party officials were quoted as saying that he is contemplating calling an election in October, taking advantage of a strong showing in opinion polls and signs of disarray in some opposition parties.”

Israel’s general election normally wouldn’t take place until late 2013. According to the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu denied setting an earlier date for the general elections. But euronews points out another challenge in Netanyahu’s political agenda — the upcoming American presidential election.

The Israeli leader has clashed with President Obama on Middle East peace issues, and some analysts suggest Mr. Obama will be more determined in pressuring Israel for concessions if he is re-elected for a second term.

“It is thought he wants a strengthened mandate to be better placed to deal with Barack Obama on Middle East peacemaking, should the U.S. president himself be re-elected.”

The primary comes under the backdrop of international pressure on Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinians. The New York Times reports United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Jerusalem the day after Likud’s primary to call for good-will gestures toward the Palestinians from Israel.

“The secretary general said he hoped that the exploratory talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials that took place last month in Jordan, the first direct contacts in more than a year, could be sustained.”

The Israeli channel Infolive.tv has Israeli prime minister’s response.

“Netanyahu has said is willing to make such gestures, but only if he is given guarantees that the Palestinians will not walk away from the negotiating table a few weeks later.”

And Haaretz reports Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’ pessimism about peace talks.

“ ... Abbas said that during the talks in Jordan, Israel did not present ‘any encouraging proposal that we could advance with.’ He also said ‘Israel continues to establish facts on the ground, to build settlements and take control of lands in Jerusalem and the West Bank. This is something we cannot accept, not today and not tomorrow.’ …”

Those settlements remain a sticking point in peace talks. But as the Middle East Monitor points out -- with Netanyahu staying at the helm of Likud -- that isn’t likely to change.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed his commitment to his country's illegal settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territories. ... the Israeli prime minister said that the settlements are a ‘key element’ of the state's future.”

According to the Jerusalem Post — Netanyahu told Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon he’s willing to talk to Palestinians about Israeli settlements, but that a freeze can’t be a precondition of those negotiations.