As talks founder again, Netanyahu caught between Gantz and right-wing base
Settlements in the occupied West Bank have created new facts on the ground
Haviv Rettig Gur writes in Times of Israel, “Israel came within inches of a new government on Monday afternoon. Starting at roughly 2:30 p.m., both Likud and Blue and White began to shift from the usual run of strident talking points about their unbending principles to assurances that a coalition agreement — and with it, Israel’s long-delayed 35th Government — would be signed and sealed by the end of the day.”
“Likud insisted it had won. So did Blue and White. As details leaked from the negotiating room, the grand bargain struck between the two parties became clear. Likud had won backing for West Bank annexation; Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s demand for a veto on the move was rescinded. Gantz had won the power to reverse right-wing reforms of the legal system and judiciary, and the removal of Likud’s demand for a veto over judicial appointments. Both sides could happily claim victory.”
“Blue and White understandably prioritized the judiciary and the legal system. The party was united on the question of pushing back against what it viewed as the right’s “anti-democratic” legal reforms; it was not similarly united in opposing annexation. Some limited annexation, especially in the large settlement blocs already earmarked for Israel in the two-decade-old Clinton parameters, were well within the consensus position in the party.
(To be sure, the Clinton White House saw the proposed lines as the final results of a bilateral peace process that ensured a Palestinian state, land swaps and other key concessions by Israel, and not as a unilateral move without benefit to the Palestinians; but with hope for a process with the Palestinians growing moribund, there is little opposition in Blue and White to some measure of annexation in some parts of the West Bank.)
Likud understandably prioritized annexation. Its leader Benjamin Netanyahu had made it a key campaign promise, and his party’s rank and file viewed the Trump years — and, crucially, the next six months, before Donald Trump faces a post-pandemic American electorate in November — as a moment of opportunity the likes of which had never been seen before and may not soon return. It was a rallying cry that Netanyahu believed his far-right flank could not resist, and would be sufficient recompense to the Yamina party for the cabinet posts he could no longer give them. It would mark his long-term legacy, he believes, as well as hold together his right-wing bloc when the next election rolls around.” (more…)
Palestinian labourers working in a settlement
Chaim Levinson and Jonathan Lis write in Haaretz, 6 April 2020, “At a meeeting Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kahol Lavan Chairman Benny Gantz agreed on the terms regarding how Israel would purse possible annexation of portions of the West Bank by a government led by their two parties. Agreement on the issue appeared to almost completely clear the way for a unity government, but later Monday, Kahol Lavan announced that there was new disagreement regarding the appointment of judges.
Gantz and Netanyahu, until recently political rivals who faced off in Israel’s March 2 election, agreed that Netanyahu would be able to bring a proposal for annexing parts of the West Bank to a cabinet vote this summer, but only if the United States backs the move and if it is done in coordination with other international players.
Once approved by the cabinet, a proposal to apply Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank would also require approval by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and then the full Knesset.
In a possible hitch in the coalition talks, Gantz’s party issued a statement later on Monday saying negotiations were put on hold “after agreements had been reached on all issues,” as a result of request from Likud to discuss changes to the process of appointment of judges, a change that Kahol Lavan said would “harm democracy.”
The lengthy meeting between Gantz and Netanyahu took place at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, but because Netanyahu is still under quarantine after coming in contact with Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who tested positive for the coronavirus, Gantz stood on the patio of the residence while Netanyahu remained in his study. The two leaders shouted to each other from a safe distance.
They agreed that senior Likud lawmaker Yariv Levin would be nominated as the new Knesset speaker. It is not yet clear what job would be given to former Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who is also affiliated with Likud and had hoped to the return to the post. Edelstein has been mooted as a possible foreign minister, but Kahol Lavan hasn’t yet decided whether it wants the Foreign Ministry or the Education Ministry in the proposed cabinet.
Kahol Lavan’s Avi Nissenkorn would be appointed justice minister, but Netanyahu and Gantz agreed that senior appointments in the judicial system would have to be coordinated between both parties.
The new government is only expected to be sworn in after the Passover holiday, which ends a week from Thursday.
Israeli High Court in session
Negotiations yet to come
Once Netanyahu and Gantz finalize their agreement, Netanyahu will have to meet with the right-wing Yamina slate to decide which cabinet posts it would get, in addition to assigning posts to members of his own Likud party. Neither of these would be easy tasks, however, since some current ministers won’t be included in the new cabinet.
Yamina said Monday that “Netanyahu capitulated completely to Kahol Lavan” when it comes to the justice system. “We urge Netanyahu to come to his senses and insist on the right-wing bloc’s red lines.”
Yamina also alleged that the wording in the proposed coalition agreement on applying sovereignty to parts of the West Bank is “vague” and “doesn’t say anything, and even worse, it postpones sovereignty until too close to the U.S. elections, which casts a heavy shadow over the possibility of getting American consent for the move.”
David Elhayani, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, said he had spoken to Netanyahu, who promised that annexation would occur in the coming months. “I thank the prime minister for calling and making it clear that he won’t let the opportunity for sovereignty to slip by, and I trust that he is determined to advance this matter in the coming months,” he said.
For its part, Peace Now, which opposes the presence of West Bank settlements, demanded that Gantz and Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz condition their entry into the government on getting veto power over any plan to unilaterally annex territory. “Dealing with the coronavirus can’t pave the way for the messianic right’s caprices,” the organization’s executive director, Shaqued Morag, said. “You must not compromise and be signatories to Israel’s destruction as a Jewish and democratic” state.
A Kahol Lavan-Labor Party merger
Also on Monday, Gantz and Peretz announced that they would work to unite their parties into a single Knesset faction. As a first stage, the parties would coordinate their activities in parliament, to be followed later by “political cooperation and preparation for future elections,” they said in a statement. The negotiations will be conducted by Nissenkorn and Labor MK Itzik Shmuli.
Peretz later told Haaretz that joining forces with Kahol Lavan was a natural move for Labor, which he said he viewed as “a very important process.” Once the two parties are fully merged, he explained, “we will be one large party that can provide solutions for many segments of society. Our ability to exert influence in the Knesset will be much greater.”
He promised that Labor would not join a Netanyahu government without Kahol Lavan if the negotiations between Gantz and Netanyahu fall through.
For his part, another Labor Party official said joining forces with Kahol Lavan would “revive the Labor Party.” His party, he added, had consented to the language on annexation in the emerging agreement between Likud and Kahol Lavan.” This article is printed in its entirety.