The Meretz party is recruiting Labor party backers and writer Amos Oz in an effort to boost its Knesset representation, which has dropped from 12 to five the past several years. Party chairman Chaim Oron has also met with former Labor ministers and legislators Shlomo Ben-Ami, Uzi Baram and Avraham Burg, according to the Hebrew daily Haaretz.
Veteran Meretz Knesset Members Dr. Yossi Beilin and Ran Cohen recently have announced they are quitting politics, leaving the party the opportunity to recruit new blood.