Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid has expressed his strong opposition to the French initiative, insisting that no country can force Israel to take diplomatic steps.
"I am opposed to the French initiative, because no one can make Israel do anything against its wishes. We are a sovereign country and we will decide our fate for ourselves," said MK Lapid at the opening of a party meeting.
He further explained that, at the beginning of the previous administration, he warned Netanyahu of the international crisis now playing out. "I suggested to him exactly what he is now doing. A regional process with a regional committee. I warned him that, should this not happen, there will be attempts to force a 'solution' on us from the outside."
The party leader criticized Yitzhak Herzog's list of concessions, in which he offered to give up Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, and even to divide Jerusalem. "Yesterday it was announced that Zionist Union head Bougie Herzog negotiated with (Palestinian Authority President) Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah before the elections, and they agreed to have a joint municipality in Jerusalem and to transfer the eastern part of the city to Palestinian control.
"This is a dangerous and improper approach. This is the classic mistake of the Left: always running to announce what it is willing to concede. That's not how you negotiate in the Middle East."