Israeli opposition party seeks diplomatic settlement with Palestinians

The center-left Zionist Union, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main political rival in the March 17 elections, presented Sunday its platform with an emphasis on achieving diplomatic settlement with the Palestinians.

The platform, launched at a press conference in Tel Aviv, presents two main goals: ending Israel's diplomatic isolation and curbing the rise of the housing prices.

The Zionist Union, a coalition of Isaac Herzog's Labor party and former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni's HaTnua party, said it will present a peace initiative to the Arab League in order to restart the peace talks, which were ceased in 2013.

The 40-page-long document proposes demilitarization of the Palestinian state, keeping the settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank under Israeli sovereignty, preserving Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, and guaranteeing religious freedom and access to the Holy Places of all religions while maintaining Israeli sovereignty.

"This initiative reflects Israel's core values, which are expressed in the call for peace and good relations between Israel and its neighbors, alongside the unequivocal definition of the State of Israel as the nation of Jewish people," according to the platform.

The platform also promises to implant an economic plan that will restrain the high cost of living in Israel, and particularly the housing prices.

"The right to housing is one of the basic social rights the state is committed to safeguarding as part of its responsibility towards its citizens," the platform said. "Solving the housing crisis must be a central goal for every responsible Israeli government," it added.

The latest opinion polls showed the Zionist Union and Netanyahu's Likud are running neck to neck, with 23 to 24 seats for each party. Endit