Ra’am and Yisrael Beytenu sign coalition agreement with Yesh Atid

Opposition leader Yair Lapid signed a historic agreement with the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party Friday morning. 

Ra’am will be the first Arab party in the governing coalition since the Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers in Yitzhak Rabin’s first term as prime minister in 1974-1977.

The deal gives Ra’am a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office that will deal with Arab affairs and the chairmanship of the Knesset interior committee and committee on Arab society.

The new government will invest 2.5 billion NIS over five years in fighting crime in the Arab sector. It will also invest 20 billions NIS for transportation in the Arab sector by 2030. Additionally, another 100 million NIS will be allocated over 5 years for infrastructure projects in Arab communities. Three unrecognized Bedouin villages, Abda, Rahma, Hisham-Zan will be recognized and developed. 

An agreement was also reached overnight with the Yisrael Beytenu party. The agreement calls for term limits for prime minister of two terms of 8 years, public transportation on Shabbat, and implementing the Western Wall agreement that was reached in 2016 and canceled in 2017 due to pressure from United Torah Judaism.

Yisrael Beytenu will be given the Finance Ministry for its leader Avigdor Lieberman, another minister in the Finance Ministry, a minister of agriculture who will also control the Negev and Galilee development portfolio, and the chairmanship of the Knesset finance committee and the new committee monitoring the progress of national projects.

A deal was reached on Thursday with Meretz. Agreements must be reached by the 4pm deadline with Yamina, Labor, New Hope, Blue and White.