Monday, July 27, 2009

Prime minister gains Minister Ya'alon's support in land reform battle

(Globes).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister without Portfolio Moshe Yaalon today struck a deal on the Israel Land Administration (ILA) reform. Former IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Yaalon was one of the MKs who was missing at last week's vote on the bill, which Netanyahu then pulled.

Netanyahu and Yaalon met a few days ago to discuss Yaalon's reservations about the reform. Under the deal reached, Netanyahu told Yaalon that, after the bill is passed in its present form, they would meet again to discuss it.

Yaalon's office said that Netanyahu said that he would act to "prevent harm to Zionist interests in the event that any arise in the legislation, including amending the law." Yaalon said, "The bill has opened the way to repositioning the coalition while preserving the principles on which it has stood in recent months."