Arab List Expresses Readiness to Negotiate With Gantz

Arab World

September 27th, 10:49am

Tel Aviv- Nazir Majli

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List, gestures as he hands out pamphlets during an election campaign event in Tira, northern Israel September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The head of the parliamentary bloc of the Arab Joint List, Dr. Ahmed ِAl-Tibi, announced the willingness to negotiate with Benny Gantz in case he decided to form a center-left government. Al-Tibi said that the four heads of the Joint List, including Ayman Odeh, Mansour Abbas, Muntas Chehadeh and himself, met on Thursday and agreed to maintain with full force their organizational and intellectual unity, pledging not to take individual decisions, such as the decision taken by three deputies of the List, who withdrew their support for Benny Gantz's mandate to form a government. Meanwhile, a recent poll showed that 52 percent of Israelis said they would prefer Benjamin Netanyahu to step down immediately and to be replaced with another Likud leader. The poll was published by Channel 13 of the Israeli television. It also showed that 50 percent of Israelis preferred Benjamin Netanyahu to first take over as prime minister if a unity government comprising Likud and Kahul Lavan was formed under a rotation agreement with Benny Gantz. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they would prefer Gantz to take the position first, while 13 percent answered with “don’t know.” However, when asked whether they favored the status quo even if it led to a third election this year, 52 percent of respondents said they would prefer to appoint another Likud leader to prevent a third election, while 36 percent opposed Netanyahu’s removal from the Likud. Twelve percent said they did not know the answer to that question.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1921216/arab-list-expresses-readiness-negotiate-gantz