During the election campaign, Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed peace talks with the Palestinians, supported expanding West Bank settlements and warned that concessions only embolden Israel's enemies.

But preparing to become Israel's prime minister Tuesday, Netanyahu adopted a more conciliatory tone, reflecting the same pragmatic streak that in the past allowed him to navigate complex domestic and global politics.

He has embraced peace negotiations since being tapped as the country's leader after the Feb. 10 elections. He also says Israel should not rule Palestinians, although he has remained vague on the details and never said the words "Palestinian state."

"The government I am about to form will do all it can to achieve a just, long-lasting peace with our neighbours and the entire Arab world," he said Monday. "Each of our neighbours truly willing to move toward peace will find an outstretched hand."

While Netanyahu had enough support in Parliament to form a hard-line government, he worked to bring the centrist Labor Party into the ruling coalition and entrusted its leader, Ehud Barak, with Israel's security as defence minister.

Netanyahu has long presented himself as a leader opposed to territorial withdrawals and not seduced by dreams of peace. He has never openly renounced the idea of controlling the "Greater Land of Israel," meaning the territory that is now Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

But his behavior as prime minister in the 1990s, and as prime minister-elect since last month, displayed a less ideological bent.

"He believes in the Greater Land of Israel, and if you ask him he'll never say he does not. But he'll act in a way that will suggest taking reality into account, and not just ideology," said Shlomo Avineri, a prominent political scientist at Hebrew University.

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