On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides said the Prime Minister believes that the Labor Party split will actually help move forward the peace talks with the Palestinians.According to Netanyahu, now that the Labor ministers left the government, the Palestinians will understand that the Israeli government will not collapse and therefore they will have no choice but to conduct direct negotiations with Israel.
‘The Palestinians saw the threats of the Labor ministers and toughened their stance because they thought the Israeli government will collapse. Now they understand that the government is going nowhere and now they will return to negotiations,’ said sources close to Netanyahu.
The eight Labor MKs who left the coalition were actually the ones who supported the advancement of the peace process, while Netanyahu was the one who refused to present a peace plan.
A senior Israeli official who has been involved in negotiations with the Palestinians for more than 15 years heard the comments and responded with loud laughter. ‘If officials in the Prime Minister’s Bureau think that this is the way to advance the peace process then they are disconnected from reality,’ he said
