For decades, the dovish Meretz party dreamed of the day they will move from the opposition into a coalition and be part of the government.
The past 20 years did not see the party sit passively in the desert that is the Israeli political opposition, spearheading important fights for equality, the environment, a just allocation of resources, separation of religion and state and many more.
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Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz (C) during a party meeting in Knesset
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
But above it all, Meretz has always made one specific issue the top of their priorities' list: the end of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But now that the party is in power, something very strange is occurring.
Since Zahava Galon stepped down as leader of Meretz, a battle raged inside the party between those who wanted to continue the political line drawn by its former heads Yossi Sarid, Shulamit Aloni (may they both rest in peace) and Galon, and those who wanted the party to focus more on social and environmental issues and less on ending the occupation.
Now, after over six months since Meretz has joined the government, this internal conflict has been decided, with the March 2021 election slogan of "More Social, More Environmental" being the clearest sign of this.
I fully supported Meretz's intentions to join Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's coalition, in hopes the party could influence from inside and most importantly end the rotten reign of Benjamin Netanyahu.
But since then, the voices calling for the end of the occupation have fallen silent.
Party chair Nitzan Horowitz should be given credit since he never really wanted to delve too deeply with the occupation issue, with his focus always being on social matters.
Same with ministers Tamar Zandberg and Issawi Frej, both of whom are fulfilling their current jobs much better than their predecessors.
But for the sake of keeping the government afloat, the very essence of Meretz has been pushed to the side.
The result is that there is no party in the Knesset that is genuinely dealing with ending Israel's military control of the Palestinian territories and the renewal of the peace process.
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Construction work in the settlement of Givat Zeev, near the West Bank city of Ramallah
(Photo: AFP)
Sure, there are some MKs who are still making efforts on the matter (Mossi Raz, Gabi Loski and Michal Rozin), but their power in the coalition is the same as it was in the opposition.
Since Loski and Rozin were not directly elected to the Knesset, there is a lot of pressure on them to not challenge the government.
Sure, they can organize rallies, protest and go on social media, but when the cabinet meets, Meretz continues to give its hand to the occupation.
The past six months have seen an increase in settler violence against Palestinians, the government approving plans to expand the settlements, with not even one illegal outpost being evacuated.
In order to kick Netanyahu out of power, Meretz sacrificed the Palestinians and turned into just another party, just as its current leadership dreamed it would do.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (center-left) meets with Meretz ministers Nitzan Horowitz (left) and Isawi Frej (center-right) in Ramallah on Sunday
(Photo: Meretz)
Their conduct in government — probably the greatest achievement of the religious Zionists — might be the victory of a handful, but a loss to the entire anti-occupation movement.
This administration continues to thrive when issues like the settlements, the peace process and the Palestinian state are ignored.
Meretz's founders would have looked down upon the current state of affairs in disgust.
Nir Avishai Cohen is a human rights and peace activist and a former member of Meretz's board and former spokesman for Breaking the Silence