Last week Barry Rubin suggested that Binyamin Netanyahu’s agreement with Yisrael Beiteinu that included party head Avigdor Lieberman as Foreign Minister was a ploy and that we wouldn’t know the true makeup of the Israeli government until the beginning of April. He didn’t believe that Netanyahu would agree to a narrow government or that he would really keep Lieberman as Foreign Minister. So far the first part was accurate, but with Labor joining Likud, Lieberman remains slotted as Foreign Minister.
Likud and Labor negotiators agreed on terms of a deal on Tuesday. The agreement was somewhat vague on issues pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stating that the new government would devise a plan for comprehensive peace in the Middle East; that Israel was committed to all previously signed diplomatic and international agreements; and that the government would work to reach peace accords with all of Israel’s neighbors while preserving Israel’s security and vital interests.
The agreement does not contain any mention of the two-state solution as a goal for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but as Shalom Simhon, Labor’s chief negotiator, noted, neither does it rule that out.
Labor said it wanted a continuation of the peace process with the Palestinians but did not insist on any declaration about the two-state solution in its talks with Likud. Instead, Labor focused on socioeconomic issues in the coalition talks, a priority for much of the party’s constituency.
Led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a former prime minister, Labor delegates agreed that their 13 recently elected Knesset members would help Netanyahu form a majority in the Israeli parliament. The deal gives Netanyahu a bloc of at least 66 votes in the 120-member body, but even more importantly, it brings a sense of ideological diversity to a coalition that would otherwise have been narrowly drawn. Barak will remain as defense minister.
Israel Matzav (via memeorandum) points to two likely consequences of Labor joining the government. One is that Netanyahu’s economic program will likely be modified and the other is that Israel is less likely to promote expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. He also observes that this a very good deal for Barak and Labor. (Conversely it makes Tzipi Livni look like she’s been outmaneuvered. I can’t imagine that Kadima is happy with this.)
Joe Klein who feels that elections made a terrorist organization legitimate, calls Labor joining the coalition a “fig leaf.” Apparently, for Klein, elections make Palestinians bent on Israel’s destruction legitimate, extends no such understanding for an Israeli party committed to a two state agreement.
Shmuel Rosner, though is impressed.
Netanyahu’s mastery of politics in the last half year has been very impressive. He has outsmarted his arch-rival Tzipi Livni three times. First, in Nov. 2008, when he prevented Foreign Minister Livni from forming a coalition as PM Ehud Olmert announced his resignation – forcing new elections; second, In Feb. 2009, when he convinced Avigdor Lieberman to disappoint Livni and shatter her hopes for a Kadima-led coalition supported by Israel Beiteinu; now, in March 2009, when a last minute deal with Barak made the “right-wing narrow†coalition an unusable slogan for Livni. This is a “unity government.â€
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
