Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Labor Party's Central Committee will convene at Tel Aviv's Exhibition
Grounds on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter. Chairman Ehud Barak met
early Tuesday with Likud leader and Prime Minister-designate Benjamin
Netanyahu and signed a coalition agreement which would be presented to the
convention.
The two party leaders arrived at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan in an
attempt to bridge the differences and finalize the remaining issues in the
coalition negotiations, mainly on the economic level.
At around 9 am, the sides reported of significant progress in the talks. The
issues agreed upon and slated to appear in the coalition agreement between
the two parties include the following:
- Israel will work to reach a comprehensive regional agreement for peace and
cooperation in the Middle East.
- Israel is committed to all diplomatic and international agreements signed
by the Israeli governments.
- The government will work to obtain peace agreements with each of its
neighbors.
- The defense minister (Barak) will be a full partner in the diplomatic
process and will be a partner in any limited forum aimed at making decisions
in the diplomatic, security and economic field.
- The government will work to enforce the law in terms of the illegal
outposts, as well as illegal Palestinian construction.
"We have reached unprecedented achievements," said Histadrut Chairman Ofer
Eini, a member of Labor's negotiation team. According to the agreement, the
party will receive five ministers and two deputy ministers, as well as the
chairmanship of a Knesset committee.
