JERUSALEM: Israel`s parliament on Monday passed a preliminary motion to dissolve itself. The move further pushed the country towards an unprecedented political impasse, less than two months after elections seemed to promise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a new mandate.

If the bill receives final passage in a vote scheduled on Wednesday, Israel would be forced to hold new elections sending the political system into disarray.

Netanyahu appeared to have a clear path to victory, and a fourth consecutive term, af ter the April 9 elections. His Likud party emerged tied as the largest party in the 120-seat parliament, and with his traditional allies, he appeared to control a solid 65-55 majority.

But he has struggled to form a government ahead of a looming deadline to do so.

His prospective coalition has been thrown into crisisin recent days by former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, an ally and sometimes rival of Netanyahu`s.

Netanyahu delivered a primetime statement on Monday calling on his potential partners to put `the good of the nadon above every other interest` in order to avoid sending the country once again to `expensive, wasteful` elections. He placed the blame on Lieberman for creating the crisis, but said he was hopeful his efforts to salvage a compromise in the next 48 hours would succeed.

Lieberman has insisted on passing a new law mandating that young ultraOrthodox men be drafted into the military, like most other Jewish males.

Netanyahu`s ultra-Orthodox allies demand that the draft exemptions remain in place.

Without the five seats of Lieberman`s Yisrael Beiteinu party, Netanyahu cannot muster a majority.-AP