Why is two-state solution absent from Blue and White party charter?

Blue and White party leaders Benny Gantz, left, and Yair Lapid, right, at the new alliance’s unveiling in Tel Aviv on February 21, 2019

Mazal Mualem writes in Al Monitor, “The new Blue and White party published March 6 for the first time its platform, omitting the two-state solution. Paradoxically, this vague and general diplomatic-security platform is the life preserver of the only Zionist left parties, Labor and Meretz.”

“The recent union between Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and Benny Gantz’ Israel Resilience party created Blue and White — a powerful new party, according to the polls. Subsequently, the Labor and Meretz parties lost more of their already weak power, threatening their existence. The Labor Party has recognized the potential of the vague Blue and White platform and released a sharp response that said, among other things, “Whoever runs away from the two-state solution will get a single state with an Arab majority and the end of the Zionist vision. The Labor Party is the only party committed to the vision of two states for two peoples and to maintaining the Jewish majority.”

Tamar Zandberg,. Meretz Chair

“Thus, the new Blue and White party became the biggest party in Israel overnight, at least according to the polls, at the expense of the left-wing parties, among other things. Blue and White defines itself as a centrist party with a big wink to the right, and from the start it wasn’t clear how former Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon, a clear right-winger from the Likud, and Knesset member Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid), would sit together. The solution for Gantz-Lapid is a total blurring of positions in order not to chase away potential right-wing voters. Thus, for instance, the two-state solution or a Palestinian state weren’t mentioned in the platform.”…

“Blue and White is a party that presents a center-right diplomatic agenda, but the critical mass of its voters hails from the center-left bloc. Most of them believe in the two-state solution. According to the polls, the party would win more than 30 mandates, which drifted over from parties such as Labor, Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua and even from Meretz — and also of course from Yesh Atid.” (more…)