Clarification: National Camp Won - Religion-State Issues Taking Priority
Dr. Aaron Lerner 23 September, 2019

The national camp includes Yisrael Beiteinu.

It has more than 61 seats.

PM Netanyahu so far has been unable to form a ruling coalition because
Yisrael Beiteinu leader Liberman believes that religion-state issues take
precedence.

Thanks to the hard line taken by Mahmoud Abbas et. al. Liberman does not see
the threat of the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state in the
foreseeable future.

At the same time, it appears that a Netanyahu administration won't engage in
truly dramatic action on the national front.

Two indications of this were decisions by Mr. Netanyahu in the days up to
the elections:

- during a high profile election campaign visit to Hebron he declined, as
DM, to sign a letter to the mayor of Hebron ending the municipality's lease
on the Jewish owned "old market", a move that would have opened the area to
Jewish construction.

- he indefinitely postponed applying Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan
Valley and the northern Dead Sea on 15 September by appointing a working
team led by the director general of his ministry, Ronen Peretz, to formulate
an outline for carrying out the move - this when he already had a final map
for the decision and only needed to carry out a Government vote approving
the map (or alternatively submit the legislation he also had already
prepared for submission to the Knesset).

This in contrast to the religion-state issues: the prospects of crippling
development of the country by banning infrastructure work on the Sabbath and
allowing the growing Haredi sector to continue to decline to give their
children the tools critical to equip them to make a significant contribute
to the economy (English and math).

History though, has shown, that it is difficult to predict what may happen
in the coming period. Suffice it to say that even in the absence of the
creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, there are many ways for almost
all of Area C to undergo a transformation that will prevent future
significant Israeli construction beyond the area of the current communities.

________________________________________
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il