Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government stresses its desire to achieve peace with the Palestinians and other Arab states as he was set to present his new government to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Thursday evening before members would be sworn in.
“The government will advance the diplomatic process and strive to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians and all our neighbors, while maintaining Israel’s security, historical and national interests,” read the coalition guidelines presented to parliament.
“The Jewish people have the indisputable right to a sovereign state in the Land of Israel, its national and historic homeland,” they said.
‘’Any such agreement would be submitted to the Knesset for approval “and if necessary by law, to a referendum.”
The rest of the government policy outline deals with issues such as reducing the cost of living, improving competition in the Israeli economy, boosting education and protecting the environment.
The guidelines are not inherently different to those published by Netanyahu for his two previous governments, formed in 2009 and 2013.
Netanyahu has put together a slim majority of just 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Five parties are in the coalition : Likud, Kulanu, Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home), Shas and United Torah Judaism.
According to the Israeli media, Netanyahu would keep the Foreign Ministry for himself in hopes to expand the coalition on a later stage to Zionist Union’s leader Isaac Herzog.