“For its first six months, the coalition will focus on tackling the pandemic, and will not pass major legislation that does not relate to the crisis. It will also not make major appointments to key positions that require government approval, such as the attorney general and police commissioner. In the course of those six months, the sides will negotiate the platform for the coalition for the rest of its lifespan. From July 1, 2020, however, Netanyahu will be allowed to have the government and/or the Knesset vote on annexing parts of the West Bank, on the basis of the Trump administration’s peace plan. Such a vote would be held “as quickly as possible,” the agreement states, with no delays at the committee stages. Although coalition members will be able to vote as they see fit, the pro-annexation camp in the Knesset is likely to enjoy a majority.”

“Setting out two legislative paths to enact annexation, the deal appears to provide Netanyahu with an alternative route if he fails to gain a majority for annexation in the cabinet, where some half of the ministers will be Blue and White members. It is more likely to pass in the Knesset given that the right-wing Likud, Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu, United Torah Judaism and Shas parties, which all have voiced support for annexation, hold a majority there. If Netanyahu chooses to bring the proposal before the Knesset, he will be able to do so on his own or through another MK, provided that the lawmaker is from the Likud party, the agreement stipulates, in an apparent effort to prevent a more hardline lawmaker from advancing legislation that is not coordinated with the Likud and Blue and White parties. This lawmaker will be obligated to ensure that the legislation is ‘identical to the version placed before the cabinet’.”

“After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan signed a coalition agreement Monday night, the emergency government’s cabinet is beginning to take shape.”

“Under the deal, which the two leaders cast as an emergency government to fight the coronavirus, Mr. Gantz will be named deputy prime minister and is to get a turn as prime minister halfway through their three-year term, in October 2021, switching roles with Mr. Netanyahu. But given Mr. Netanyahu’s political cunning, Israeli analysts were skeptical that he would hand over power when the time came — or even that the new government would last that long. Mr. Gantz won at least a measure of insurance: Their rotation agreement would require 75 of the 120 members of Parliament to vote to overturn it, and if the government is disbanded early he would become prime minister. But Mr. Netanyahu, whose trial on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges is now set to begin May 24, will have an effective veto over appointments of the next attorney general and state prosecutor. Mr. Netanyahu had also sought an assurance — which he did not achieve — that if the Supreme Court rules that a criminal defendant cannot serve as prime minister, the new government would pass legislation overriding such a decision. But Mr. Netanyahu did win a clause saying that such a decision by the court in the next six months would immediately lead to new elections. Mr. Netanyahu could then try again for a 61-seat majority that would enact the override he would need to retain power.”

This may be a negotiating tactic for Yamina leader Naftali Bennett to squeeze concessions out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they meet on Tuesday evening. But a former Yamina minister said they are seriously considering sitting in the opposition. ‘This is a left-wing government led by Netanyahu,’ the source said. ‘All the things we care about are going to the [Blue and White-led] bloc. The agreement doesn’t leave us any way to have influence. Yamina is ‘right-wing on economics, justice and diplomatic matters,’ and the coalition agreement gives Blue and White control over two of those matters, the source said. The judiciary is the matter that Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz debated the most before the agreement was finalized. In the end, Blue and White will appoint a justice minister who is unlikely to hold the right-wing position of opposing judicial activism, and that minister will have a seat on the Judicial Selection Committee. The Blue and White bloc’s other representative in the committee will be Derech Eretz MK Zvi Hauser, whose positions are more to the right than the rest of the bloc.”

“Each side is given sweeping powers to stymie the other side. Gantz and Netanyahu must agree on every item placed on the cabinet’s agenda. In the “emergency” phase, each has a straightforward veto on all legislation. In the later “unity” phase, Gantz’s justice minister — slated to be MK Avi Nissenkorn — will chair the powerful Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which gives the government’s imprimatur to new bills and whose decisions both blocs have committed to follow, but Likud will hold the deputy chairmanship. Both chair and deputy must agree on the committee’s agenda. Then there are the astoundingly convoluted mechanisms by which each man hopes to force the other to fulfill their side of the bargain. Gantz got a guarantee that if Netanyahu pushes a vote through the Knesset to dissolve the parliament and call early elections before Gantz has fulfilled his term as prime minister, then Gantz is automatically the interim prime minister in the months until a new government is sworn in. That is, Netanyahu will have to leave the PM’s chair no matter what. Netanyahu, meanwhile, won the right to resign early from the premiership, let Gantz have his 18 months, and then return to complete his term — allowing him to enter the next election as prime minister once again. Gantz is required to resign along with Netanyahu if Netanyahu is ruled unfit to serve as prime minister by the High Court of Justice in the first six months of the coalition’s lifespan — a measure Netanyahu believes will make the justices of the High Court think twice about removing him.”

“It has also possibly saved the Trump administration’s peace deal, by rescuing Netanyahu from what was shaping up to be a suicidal choice between the Israeli Right or the US President. With regard to the former, Netanyahu could have lost his political base and possibly his government. With the latter, he could have lost the support of his chief diplomatic ally, US President Donald Trump. It’s a gordian knot of a dilemma that has crystalized in the last three months. The Israeli Right has applauded the portion of the Trump plan that allows for the application of sovereignty over 30% of Area C in the West Bank. It has, however, simultaneously insisted that Netanyahu reject the part of the plan that supports the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank. The Trump administration has linked authorization of sovereignty with Israeli support for a demilitarized Palestinian state.”

“Netanyahu is watching satisfied from the sidelines, knowing the bickering means that if a fourth election is called, the center-left camp would be divided to his advantage. In fact, now that a deal has been signed, the rift between Gantz and Lapid is expected to grow even further, with Lapid becoming Gantz’ opposition.”

“From being the moral voice for the last 15 months by calling for the removal of an indicted prime minister, Gantz is now the indicted prime minister’s chief protector and defender. He is contractually obliged to safeguard Netanyahu’s position – not only for the next 18 months while he remains prime minister, but for the entire three years, including the second half when Netanyahu is deputy premier but the real power in government, as he will still have the allegiance of three-quarters of the coalition’s lawmakers.”

“Palestinians from across the political spectrum have reacted to the agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz to form a unity government by warning that the extension of Israeli sovereignty to any part of the West Bank would signal the end of the two-state solution. Some Palestinian officials and factions called on the Palestinian leadership to immediately halt all forms of cooperation with Israel, including security coordination between the Palestinian security forces and the IDF.”

“Jewish organizations in the U.S. welcomed Monday the agreement between Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government, but warned against annexing parts of the West Bank the deal could lead to.”

“US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Monday night expressed his satisfaction with the new Israeli unity government agreed in a deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz. ‘Delighted to see that Israel’s two leading political parties, led by PM Netanyahu & MK Gantz, have agreed to form a unity government,’ Friedman tweeted. ‘The United States looks forward to working closely with the new gov’t to advance our shared values and interests bilaterally and across the world.’”

“Abbas, speaking during a weekly cabinet meeting held via videoconference, did not specify what virus restrictions would be lifted, but ordered the government to ease some of the lockdown orders in the run-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins Thursday evening. Abbas said he recognized that many viewed the measures put in place as extreme, but said he had to choose between not implementing the restrictions and ‘losing our people.'”

“With over 250 identified COVID-19 Palestinian patients in the West Bank and potentially dozens in the Gaza Strip we, the undersigned organizations, express grave concern in the face of a potential human catastrophe. The Palestinian healthcare system, with a dire lack of equipment, medicines, and training, will be unable to deal with this outbreak. We therefore urge the Israeli authorities to live up to their legal and moral obligations and assist the Palestinian health systems—in Gaza and the West Bank—both with combating the pandemic and caring for those patients who are in critical need of continuous health care that is unavailable in the Gaza Strip.”

“When the coronavirus crisis hit, it met Israeli-Palestinian ties at the latest in a series of low points. As the pandemic began rapidly spreading on both sides of the Green Line in early March, Jerusalem appeared to be marching just as quickly toward plans to annex large swaths of the West Bank, in a move almost certain to bring relations with Ramallah to a breaking point (an eventuality that now appears nearly sealed under a new coalition deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz).”

“Netanyahu was due later Tuesday to announce his decision regarding restrictions on movement to be imposed during Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, Independence Day and Ramadan.”

“Despite the pandemic overshadowing this year’s commemorations marking 75 years since the end of the Holocaust, President Reuven Rivlin said it was incumbent upon Israelis to remember the Nazi genocide of some 6 million Jews in World War II. ‘The Nazi beast conquered bodies, but not spirits. In the paths of tears, in the valleys of hell, in a disintegrating world devoid of solidarity, when death was among them every day, our brothers and sisters put their lives at risk to save the weakest among them,’ he said in his speech delivered in a video projected on a large screen.”

“Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit is set to increase the involvement of the Shin Bet security service in the national effort against coronavirus. He will approve more invasive civilian surveillance measures to allow more accurate mapping of infection hotspots and health officials to conduct epidemiological reports quicker and more efficiently. Mandelblit is expected to announce the new measures ahead of a government meeting that will address the issue in the coming days, as the Shin Bet’s current remit to digitally track potential coronavirus carriers expires at the end of the month. The government plans to grant the security agency an extension and introduce new and more intrusive surveillance measures. Mandelblit will head a team that will oversee the Shin Bet’s activity under strict regulatory conditions. The Knesset Subcommittee for Secret Services will also be required to monitor and supervise all operations.”

“At The Listening Post, we have been tracking how governments are using technology – primarily phone data – to monitor the movements of citizens – and curb the spread of the coronavirus. Among the long term implications of that is the concern that even if and when the pandemic is brought under control, those governments might prove reluctant to give up their new surveillance powers. Israel is a case in point. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now has the legal right to surveil Israeli citizens in new ways – and he did that without even consulting the parliament. And Israel already has expertise in this area. It has spent decades honing its ability – and the technology required – to monitor the movements of Palestinians. “

“Riad and Fadwa Majadla’s family boasts five physicians (not including their youngest son, Orwa, who is in dental school), who are among the increasing number of Arab citizens in the country’s medical establishment. Some 20 percent of Israel’s population are Arab and they are almost a fifth of the country’s doctors. Nearly a quarter – 24 percent – are nurses and 48 percent of all pharmacists are Israeli Arabs, according to government data.”

“This commentary first provides an historical examination of the Palestine advocacy movement in the United States and how Palestinian advocacy on college campuses emerged from it, using Students for Justice in Palestine as a particular example. It then analyzes Israel’s and its supporters’ response to this shift. The piece ultimately offers recommendations for how the university setting, despite attacks against it, can continue to provide and even amplify an environment that fosters critical research and thinking on Palestine, which in turn furthers the struggle for Palestinian rights and self-determination. “