Israel: arrival of two new ministers after the departure of Labor

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday, January 19 endorsed the entry of two new ministers in a Cabinet more strongly anchored to the right, following the departure of members of the Labour Party, center-left coalition. The ex-general and deputy Labour minister of Defence Matan Vilnai appointed to the position of Minister for Civil Defence, while the Labour MP Orit Noked takes the agriculture portfolio.

Former agriculture minister, Shalom Simhon, who followed Ehud Barak, now occupies the chair of industry and commerce. He is charged in addition the record of Arab minority (20% of the population). Netanyahu welcomed the fact that his government "has come out stronger" after the resignation of three Labor ministers Binyamin Ben Eliezer, former Industry Minister, Yitzhak Herzog, a former minister of social affairs, and Avishai Braverman, charged minorities.

Ehud Barak, who left Monday with the clatter of the Labor Party head, bringing with him four members of this training is provided as defense minister. Threatened with being expelled from the leadership of his party and being forced to abandon the defense portfolio, the former chief of staff had taken the lead in announcing the creation of a new party "centrist Zionist democratic ", the Independence Party.

Mr. Barak accused the Labour Party, increasingly unhappy with the blocking of the peace process with the Palestinians, to drag more and more to the left "and" descend into post-Zionism "by abandoning the ideals of a nationalist party who founded the State of Israel. The new formation of Mr.

Barak, who split from the Labor Party, is overrepresented in government, with four ministers out of 29 while only five out of 120 MPs. The new ministers were sworn in the afternoon before the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The direct peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians revived briefly in Washington on September 2, blocked since the September 28 expiration of a moratorium on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinians demand return for a new moratorium, which the Israeli prime minister has refused, and references clear policies, in particular the goal of ending the occupation of Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. In December, the U.S. announced they had abandoned efforts to get Israel to extend the moratorium on the settlement.

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