Labor MKs to Netanyahu: negotiation team represents only 'Barak faction'

By JPOST.COM STAFF
In a letter to prime minister-designate Netanyahu Monday, Labor MKs who are opposed to joining the coalition claimed that the negotiations with Likud were conducted "without authority and without permission." "This is the first time in the history of the Labor party that the party chairman constructed a coalition negotiation team on his own, without a prior thorough discussion and a decision by the central committee of the party," the letter read. "This is an egregious violation of Labor's constitution." The signatories claimed that the negotiating team represented only the "Barak faction" in Labor and had no official authority to conduct talks with Likud. "We are sorry," they said, "that this is how [Labor chairman Ehud] Barak has decided to go about managing the affairs of the party." The letter was signed by MKs Daniel Ben-Simon, Avishay Braverman, Shelly Yacimovich, Eitan Cabel, Ophir Paz-Pines, Amir Peretz and Yuli Tamir.