Rumblings of discontent over the planned redeployment of Israeli troops in Hebron emerged this week from within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own government and from the right-wing camp at large.
The criticisms, which prompted some to believe a national unity government would be required to implement the redeployment, came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their seventh week of discussions aimed at concluding an agreement for the launch of self-rule in the volatile West Bank town.
Knesset member Michael Kleiner of the Gesher Party said this week that he would vote against the government in a no-confidence ballot if Netanyahu signed an agreement on Hebron without bringing it first to the Knesset for approval.
Gesher, led by Foreign Minister David Levy, had run in the country’s May 29 elections on a combined list that included Netanyahu’s own Likud Party.
Along with his threat of a no-confidence vote, Kleiner submitted a petition Sunday to the High Court of Justice, demanding that Netanyahu make available all understandings and commitments Israel made to Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat in connection with the Hebron agreement.
The National Religious Party, also a member of the governing coalition, has likewise demanded to see an agreement before it is signed.
Another voice in the chorus of discontent was that of the powerful chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Uzi Landau, a member of Likud.
“I will do everything to give full expression to my total rejection of this agreement,” Landau told the Israeli daily Ha’aretz.
Commentators noted that Netanyahu’s possible consideration of a national unity government was more likely a stern signal to dissenters within his governing coalition than an invitation to the Labor Party to help form a new government.
Speculation about the potential for forming a national unity government increased after Finance Minister Dan Meridor told Israel Television this week that he believed that it would be the best way to assure the success of a permanent-status agreement with the Palestinians.
In recent weeks, Labor and Likud officials have held contacts in an effort to come up with agreed-upon principles for the final-status negotiations, which will tackle the toughest issues confronting the two sides, including Jerusalem, settlements, refugees and the political status of the Palestinian entity.
In an effort to counter the speculation, sources close to Netanyahu denied this week that he was considering a national unity government.
Meanwhile, the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, this week launched a protest campaign against government policy.
“The phase of dialogue is ending. The phase of going out on the street has begun,” Yesha leader Pinchas Wallerstein said during a demonstration held outside last Friday’s weekly Cabinet meeting.
On Sunday, settlers protested outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem.
Wallerstein said the final decision to launch the campaign was made after settlement leaders emerged dissatisfied from recent meetings they held with Netanyahu.
The prime minister had failed to convince them that he would authorize renewed settlement construction activity, the settler leaders said.
The negotiations for the Hebron redeployment, a particularly sore spot for the settlers, continued this week with little apparent progress and with accusations from each negotiating team that the other side was responsible for the delay.
Nonetheless, in anticipation that an agreement will eventually be reached, Israeli troops have built observation points, fortified positions and installed close-circuit television cameras to monitor Jewish enclaves in the tense city.
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