Labor, Blue and White Announce Planned Merger

Labor chairman Amir Peretz and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz met Monday to discuss a merger of their parties.

“Initially, rules will be set on joint and coordinated work inside the Knesset, with the eventual aim of merging the parties,” a joint statement released by the two parties said.

The statement said that the two parties could run on a joint ticket in future elections, and named MK Avi Nissenkorn (Blue and White) and MK Itzik Shmuli (Labor) to discuss these arrangements.

On Sunday, Labor and Meretz, which had run together in a technical bloc during the elections, split apart at Peretz’s initiative.

Analysts see this as the end of an era. The Labor party, in its heyday, was the largest party in the Knesset and ran the Knesset for many decades, and now is basically dissolving.