On Jan. 7, the chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, Yair Lapid, met with his friend Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. The media barely covered the meeting by the former finance minister with a top foreign diplomat, but for Lapid it was very important to set aside time for the meeting despite his heavy campaign schedule. In an interview with Al-Monitor, mostly dedicated to diplomatic issues, Lapid said relations with Norway were crucial for the future of the diplomatic process, given the important role the Norwegians played in the October 2014 Gaza rehabilitation conference.
Unlike the previous election campaign two years ago, the Lapid of 2015 obviously intends to be far more dominant and clear on issues of diplomacy. In the meeting with the Norwegian minister, for example, he found it important to say that another round of negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas won't be of any help and therefore the correct solution is an arrangement facilitated by the Arab League and supported by the other states in the region.
