Netanyahu says budget approval "turning point"

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday he had not doubted his government's budget would be passed by parliament, and that it represented a turning point.

"I had no doubt that we would get the budget passed," Netanyahu told Israel Defence Forces radio.

"The budget that is now getting on the road heralds an important turning point.

Look at what we have done in the 18 months of this government's existence: We took a huge deficit and reduced it to hitherto unknown small dimensions, we brought down inflation, we prevented the economic collapse of this country." Asked whether his government would have difficulty gaining approval for plans to redeploy troops in the West Bank, Netanyahu said he thought an agreement was attainable.

"We will find the right balance ... on condition that the Palestinians honour their commitments" , he said.

Netanyahu said he had asked David Levi, who resigned as foreign minister on Sunday, to return to the government.

"I hope Levi will heed our call and return to the government's fold," Netanyahu said.

He said there was still "a big opportunity"to get peace moves under way and did not think there would be early elections.

Netanyahu said there were no plans to postpone a trip to Washington later this month, which he hoped would "promote the political process in a cautious and responsible way." "We are not giving everything, and we are not stopping," he said.

"We are prepared to advance in a responsible, cautious, and proper manner on condition that the Palestinians fulfil their obligations - this is a good formula."

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.