Amid the acceleration of contacts among members of the potential “government of change”, significant progress has been made in the negotiations between Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid and the chairman of the Ra'am Party, Mansour Abbas.
As part of the contacts, Bennett and Abbas met at Bennett's office in Raanana. During the meeting, the second since the official coalition negotiations began, the two discussed the possibility of Abbas supporting the government after his demands regarding the welfare of the Arab public in Israel are met.
After the meeting, significant progress was reported on both sides. It appears as though Abbas is expected to support the formation of the government even though he will not be part of it.
Throughout the last day, there have been continuous contacts between the negotiating teams in Kfar Maccabiah. Channel 12 News even reported that the teams had begun drafting coalition agreements based on a mechanism by which all principles over which there is broad consensus would be incorporated into the guidelines of the next government, while the contentious issues would be left out.