Contender for Israeli Labor Leadership Ready to Give Netanyahu Time
Tel Aviv, Israel (TML) – Isaac Herzog, who has declared his bid for leadership of Israel’s Labor Party, said the current political constellation had created a “golden opportunity” for reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement but that Labor won’t remain in the government for long if the government doesn’t act.
Speaking before diplomats and journalists in Jerusalem, Herzog said he saw both Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as “stronger than they are perceived” in their ability to reach an agreement. But, he warned, Labor won’t remain in the government for long if Netanyahu doesn’t act.
“I’m convinced that there is a golden opportunity now in the region to reach a breakthrough for peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” said Herzog, the welfare and social services minister. “There’s a convergence of interests which is quite rare.”
Labor is the most dovish party inside Netanyahu’s coalition and many of its members have been uneasy with the progress of the peace talks, which began in early September but suspended three weeks later. Labor’s 13 seats in the Knesset would reduce the coalition’s parliamentary majority to just 61 in the 120-seat legislature,.
“We demand to see a peace process moving on, and we made it clear that within a horizon of a couple of weeks we will know where we are at; is there progress or will it lead us to leaving the government,” Herzog said at a briefing held by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs in Jerusalem.
Herzog, who serves on the inner security cabinet responsible for key strategic decisions, defended the party’s continued participation in the coalition government despite the total lack of progress toward peace with the Palestinians.
“My line as well as my party’s line is that we are not willing to waste this opportunity,” Herzog said.
Direct peace talks have stalled over Israel’s refusal to renew restrictions on Jewish settlement construction in areas the Palestinians are claiming for their future state.
“My impression is that he needs to go far and to reach an agreement,” Herzog said. “I cannot say it will be achieved. Right now, we are in this corridor where the weather is foggy. We don’t really see the horizon. Things are being discussed behind the scenes, but my assumption is that there are formulas that are being discussed in order to see how one can resume the talks.”
Herzog declined to discuss the reports that the U.S. was exploring the possibility that Israel would lease parts of the Jordan Valley, one of the areas the Palestinians claim but which Israel wants to keep as a security corrdior, from a future Palestinian state.
Netanyahu is set to depart for the U.S. next week, where he is expected to meet with Vice President Joseph Biden and address a major gathering of American Jewry in New Orleans. Herzog, who announced recently he intended on challenging Defense Minister Ehud Barak for party leadership, said he was publically supporting Netanyahu, for now.
“I feel that Prime Minister Netanyahu is serious. I cannot envision whether it will bear fruit, whether we will achieve that stage. I think he deserves a chance, but I also tell him as well as my colleagues that there is a very limited time span for an opportunity.”
“I hope that next week we will be able to see a formula that will enable us to move forward,” Herzog said, adding that failure to get talks going again “will have political ramifications.”
“We want to make sure we are not missing a golden opportunity for peace,” Herzog said, explaining why his party was still in the government. “We are not willing to declare the talks over and dead. …Out of a sheer sense of responsibility and since the peace process is in our DNA. We would like to see if it is possible.”
“We pay a price for staying in the government but we would like to give peace a chance.”
In 2009 election, the once-dominant Labor Party slumped under Barak to a record low when it garnered only 13 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Other senior members in the party have also hinted they would be making the move toward party leadership.
One of these is Avishai Braverman, minister for minorities, who also threatened Monday that Labor would pull out of the coalition if Netanyahu didn’t take steps necessary to resume direct talks with the Palestinians.
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