Netanyahu’s Coalition Partners are Drawing Red Lines For deal With Saudi Arabia - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently held meetings with his coalition partners to discuss the potential normalization with Saudi Arabia and the gestures toward the Palestinians it would entail.
A participant in the meetings who requested anonymity told Haaretz their purpose was to prepare the ground for an agreement and verify that Netanyahu can preserve his government as the negotiations with Riyadh and Washington continue.
No concrete proposals were discussed, according to the source, who said the focus was on sketching the boundaries for future concessions toward the Palestinians.
Addressing reporters in New York this week, a senior Israeli official said the prime minister does not plan to make any changes in his coalition if the agreement with the Saudis comes to fruition. “If there are parties who want to join the government while adhering to its basic guidelines, they are welcome, but it won’t be at anyone's expense.”
Netanyahu’s coalition partners leave him with scant room to maneuver, casting doubt on his ability to meet the anticipated U.S. and Saudi demands. It appears that the hardest nut for the prime minister to crack is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and not National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has threatened to leave the government in the past.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gives a statement to the media at the start of the Religious Zionism party's local election representatives event, last week.Credit: Sraya Diamant
Senior figures in Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party made it clear in private conversations that they will flatly reject any normalization that includes the components to create a future Palestinian state. “As long as the gestures toward the Palestinians correspond with the Oslo rationale of building a Palestinian state, Netanyahu has no slack here, and we will oppose any such move,” said a party source.
The party sources have a hard time pointing out steps they find acceptable, versus those they oppose. “I can’t sign off on what’s okay and what’s not. It’s a matter of rationale.” However, one can already demarcate a particularly hard line opposing any significant gestures to the Palestinians.
According to the senior figures, Religious Zionism will oppose the transfer of territories to the Palestinians, whether they are Area C (areas of the West Bank that according to the Oslo accords were under full Israeli control) redefined as Area B (under Israeli security control and Palestinian civil control) or Area B redefined as Area A (under full Palestinian control). “The only thing to be considered is a mutual exchange of territory, so that for each square meter the Palestinians get, they also give a corresponding area – and not in strategic areas, such as Khan al-Ahmar for instance.”
Religious Zionism is also expected to oppose any freeze on construction in West Bank settlements, such as that ordered by Netanyahu at the request of the Obama administration as part of negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The far-right party also opposes any interference in Israel’s enforcement against illegal Palestinian construction.
Smotrich, it seems, will agree mostly to economic steps such as the transfer of Saudi funds to rebuild refugee camps, build new commercial centers and support Palestinian economic development.
Unlike Smotrich, Otzma Yehudit’s Ben-Gvir seems to have less of a formulated opinion on benefits for the Palestinians. People around him doubt the seriousness of the Saudi demand for significant gestures toward the Palestinians. A senior figure in his party claims that “it sounds like lip service. I’m not sure the Saudis will go all-out for the Palestinians. It doesn’t look as if [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed] bin Salman is killing himself for them.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at a police ceremony last week.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
This may be why, despite the common wisdom according to which Ben-Gvir would have an easier time breaking up the coalition, members of Netanyahu’s inner circle are more worried by Smotrich and mention it to the prime minister more often. However, on the face of it, Otzma Yehudit is equally intransigent.
Senior party figures say Ben-Gvir will not agree to significant concessions and a return to Oslo. “There will be no Oslo B, nor Oslo C, not any Oslo,” says a party source. “Only peace for peace, as in the Abraham Accords.”
Otzma Yehudit categorically opposes the evacuation of settlements, including those built illegally on what is clearly private Palestinian land. They also oppose the release from Israeli custody of Palestinian security prisoners and will not agree to delivering arms to the Palestinian Authority’s security forces – a measure that Israeli defense officials call for.
Confidants of Ben-Gvir struggle to say what concessions they will agree to, but it appears there is little daylight between his position and Smotrich’s. “Otzma Yehudit will not topple the government over small nuances here and there. The general lines are clear,” says a party source.
Letter from Likud
Two hours before Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden in New York Wednesday, 12 lawmakers from his Likud party published an open letter meant to narrow the prime minister’s options in regard to gestures toward the Palestinians.
“We all hope for normalization and peace with Saudi Arabia, without relinquishing homeland territories and without equipping them with lethal weapons,” reads the letter signed by Yuli Edelstein, Tally Gotliv, Danny Danon and nine other Likud Knesset members. “Israel stands by its rights irrespective of the peace efforts, both on the war on terror and on preventing and enforcing the law regarding illegal Palestinian construction,” the letter states.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu will likely have the support in Likud for whatever decision he makes. He controls the party, and the letter's signatories know they can count on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. “What they agree to, I suppose we could agree to as well,” one said.
A source in Likud also noted the significance of the absence of cabinet ministers or marquee names among the signatories, with the exception of Edelstein.