Israel's Labor Party voted Tuesday to join the incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu, lending a moderate voice to a coalition dominated by hard liners and easing concerns of a head-on confrontation with Washington over Mideast peacemaking.
Chants of "Disgrace! Disgrace!" echoed through the convention hall after Defense Minister Ehud Barak pushed through the proposal despite angry opposition from party activists who feared Labor would give only a superficial gloss to a government little interested in moving toward peace.
Be that as it may, Labor decided to join a unity government with a 680-507 vote, giving Netanyahu a majority of 66 seats out of the 120 of the Knesset.
Not that this will make Netanyahu's life easy: for all the talk of tension in the cabinet between Lieberman and the religious right--imagine what life for Bibi will be like with Barak remaining as defense minister while Lieberman takes the position of foreign minister. After all, Netanyahu had to make certain accommodations to Labor in order to get them to join:
Under the proposed coalition deal with Labor, Israel would draft a comprehensive plan for Mideast peace, resume peace talks and commit itself to existing peace accords, Labor officials said. [emphasis added]
It's one thing to commit to vague things like Mideast peace and talks, but if Netanyahu really commited to existing accords--one must assume (hope?) that refers only to official accords and not the kinds of understandings Olmert and Abbas privately reached that the Mideast Quartet has said Israel must abide by.
What matters is that now Netanyahu's government cannot be written off as just a right wing government. Bibi's government now represents the will of Israelis not only by virtue of the fact that right wing parties in Israel won the majority of the vote in the election, but now also because the coaltion will include the center/left of Israelis as well.
However, even with the apparent addition of Labor--Netanyahu's unity government is not assured:
The key now, once Netanyahu takes office, is to see how Bibi and his coaltion deal with the pressure from the Obama administration that is sure to come.
Tuesday's contentious vote drove a wedge through Barak's Labor party, opening the way for a possible split — if not now, then in the future. At least six of Labor's 13 legislators were strongly opposed to joining Netanyahu's team, and some may decide to leave the party and remain in the opposition. That could force Netanyahu to bring in at least one more hard-line party to cement his majority.Of course, Livni might yet be pressured by Labor joining the coalition and decide it is better for her own political interests to enter the unity government as well.
The key now, once Netanyahu takes office, is to see how Bibi and his coaltion deal with the pressure from the Obama administration that is sure to come.
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