Gal-On: Israeli coalition heads should be replaced to advance peace process

Meretz chairwoman chides Netanyahu, Bennett, Liberman and Lapid, likening them to alternate take on Haggada's 4 sons.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Zehava Gal-On 521 (photo credit: Courtesy: Dor Gerbash)
Zehava Gal-On 521
(photo credit: Courtesy: Dor Gerbash)
Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On accused the Israeli government coalition on Saturday of not truly wanting to advance negotiations with the Palestinians in order to reach a peace deal.
Israeli Radio cited her as telling a gathering of the Meretz Youth movement that the current leaders of the coalition could be replaced with a government that would progress the diplomatic process.
The opposition party leader likened Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud), Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi), Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beytenu) and Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) to an alternate take on the "four sons" from the Passover Haggadah as, "wicked, wicked, wicked, and the one who does not know how to quit."
The text of the Haggada, that sets the order of the Passover Seder, refers to four sons: one wise, one wicked, one simple and one who does not know how to ask a question.
Ahead of next week's Passover holiday, Israeli officials said Friday that there was "zero chance" of overcoming the current stalemate in peace talks with the Palestinians.
The officials, speaking on terms of anonymity, told Channel 10 that US mediator Martin Indyk would return to the US during Passover and return to the region after the break.
According to the government officials, Indyk's temporary leave along with Israel's alleged imposition of new economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority were signs that the deadlock would not be eased in the coming weeks to reach an April 29 deadline, as set for the current round of talks at their start in July.
On Thursday, Israeli and Palestinian officials held their fourth session in a week to find a way out of the current impasse in the talks.
The sides did not reach an agreement, but sources familiar with their discussions said they did agree to continue meeting in the days ahead.


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