In 2009, Mr Lieberman led Yisrael Beiteinu to third place in the parliamentary elections, displacing the Labour party.

BBC: Profile: Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, is one of Israel's most popular and controversial politicians.

BBC: Profile: Avigdor Lieberman

Olmert obfuscates the truth because his political stability rests in the hands of his hawkish coalition partners Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Apartheid, not peace

In October, he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu would form an alliance ahead of fresh elections in January 2013.

BBC: Profile: Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, says he is opposed to the principle of "land-for-peace", on which the two-state solution is based.

BBC: Israeli election: Where they stand

Mr Olmert, however, brought the right-wing nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party into his coalition last autumn, which shields the government from collapse but also blocks serious pro-peace moves.

ECONOMIST: Why Israelis feel their country is suffering from a malaise

Both Shas leader Eli Yishai and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman dismissed Annapolis as a pathetic joke and claimed that there is no reason for them to resign from the Olmert government.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Apartheid, not peace

He then left Likud and founded his own party, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home), which became popular among the one million Russian-speaking Jews who came to Israel following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

BBC: Profile: Avigdor Lieberman

Indeed, Natan Brun argues that the majority of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) - in the parties of Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu - have their roots in Jabotinsky and the groupings which followed.

BBC: Jerusalem Diary: 20 April