By all accounts, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak has a slim chance at best at emerging with any kind of election victory, but at the very least, it appears the party leader is getting a bit more realistic and on Tuesday, he met with the party’s former leader, a political nemesis, Amir Peretz.

Peretz, who was compelled to step down following his failures as defense minister during the Second Lebanon War, enjoys a large support base among Sephardi voters, kibbutzim, and due to his years as head of the Histadrut National Labor Federation.

Labor officials attest to the mending of fences, adding the party plans to enlist the support of former Laborites who they believe will assist in rehabilitating the party’s image. This list includes Prof. David Libai, a former justice minister and Avraham Shochat, a former finance minister.

Seeking to attract the support of the nation’s senior citizens, Barak announced he plans to be part of the next government, adding the office addressing the needs of senior citizens will not be dismantled, but it will continue serving as in the current government.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)