Shas and UTJ coalition negotiators met on Monday night with Jerusalem Mayor-elect Nir Barkat. The parties met in the mayor-elect’s Bet HaKerem neighborhood home, lasting for about two hours. The participants reported the atmosphere was a positive one, touching on issues regarding chareidi inclusion in the new Jerusalem administration.
Six representatives from UTJ in addition to Shas officials met to hopefully set the groundwork for advanced talks. In the interest of advancing negotiations, both sides agreed that future meetings would be conducted in a smaller forum.
The elections were a blow to the chareidi community in the capital, now realizing that even with its eight-seat party, UTJ will not be receiving a major appointment such as the finance portfolio or education.
There are ‘rumors’ flying on chareidi websites that Barkat will not permit the current status quo to remain in non-frum areas of the city, and he and his new administration may have plans to liberalize the current situation, despite statements made by him to the contrary following the election victory.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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One Response
This article is not completely factual, the charedim won 17 seats on the city council, they are not pleased with what Nir is offering therefore they DO NOT want to seat with the secular and Dati councilmen.