Stalled talks may kill Israel's Labor Party

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By Joshua Mitnick

TEL AVIV | The Israeli Labor Party, which led the Jewish state for its first 30 years, is in danger of unraveling amid frustration over the lack of progress in peace talks with the Palestinians, party members and political analysts say.

Labor's former parliamentary whip, Daniel Ben Simon, suggested Sunday that he would support a breakaway group if efforts to restart peace talks remain deadlocked for the next few months. Israeli media outlets have reported that two Labor ministers may join the rebels.

"We have to make a serious decision about how long we want to stay in the government and under what circumstances," said Colette Avital, a former Labor Party parliament member and former consul general in New York.

The threat to Labor comes as the Palestinian Authority appears in increasing disarray, with President Mahmoud Abbas vowing not to seek re-election next year.

A Labor split could undermine the stability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and shift its policies further to the right, deepening the impasse with the Palestinians and dashing U.S. hopes to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

A splinter party "would shock the coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu in one way or another," wrote Shalom Yerushalmi, a political commentator for the Maariv newspaper. The Labor Party leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, "doesn't have a party," Mr. Yerushalmi wrote.

Labor has been a counterweight in Mr. Netanyahu's center-right government. The defense minister is credited with helping to persuade Mr. Netanyahu to support a Palestinian state and smoothing rocky ties with the Obama administration.

But the decision to join a government led by Mr. Netanyahu stirred bitter opposition within Labor. If negotiations with the Palestinians remain frozen, rebels are likely to persuade other Labor members to bolt the governing coalition.

"Barak believes he is doing a good job at moderating the position of the government," Ms. Avital told The Washington Times. "But, I don't think that this is the way that we are going to win elections."

Mr. Barak has enjoyed an unexpectedly strong collaboration with Mr. Netanyahu, who was unseated as prime minister by Mr. Barak in elections 10 years ago. As defense minister, Mr. Barak is a prominent figure in the government, but his popularity is weak.