More than a month after Israelis went to the polls for the third time in less than a year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached Monday a critical milestone on his path to a fifth term in office, as both Likud and Blue and White inched closer to a deal on a unity government.
The parties are understood to have resolved the most controversial bone of contention: legislation over applying Israeli law to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
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Some two weeks ago, the two parties agreed in principle to sit together in a government based on a rotating premiership between Netanyahu and his main rival, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, but on Monday Israel Hayom learned that both sides had all but completed drafting the terms of the deal, which at some points during the negotiations was on the verge of being scrapped altogether. But despite the reports that the two sides closing in on a deal, no official statement was issued by either party.
The apparent breakthrough on Monday was made possible after the two sides agreed that any move to apply Israeli law to the settlements would only be presented to the Knesset for a vote only after Netanyahu consults with Gantz and after the US gives the measure a green light.
A draft agreement was expected to be presented to the press on Monday evening, clearing the way for the swearing-in of a new government later this month, once Passover is over and after various procedural laws are legislated in order to facilitate the rotation between Gantz and Netanyahu.
