The office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the first meeting between the majority and opposition parties on the justice reform project ended late Tuesday, adding that it “passed in a positive spirit,” AFP reported.

“Approximately one and a half hours later, the meeting, which took place in a positive spirit, ended,” the President’s Office said in a statement.

“Tomorrow, President Isaac Herzog will continue the series of meetings,” the message reads.

Earlier, the president’s office reported that the first “dialogue meeting” is taking place at Herzog’s residence in Jerusalem, in which “working groups representing the ruling coalition, [partidul de opoziție] Yesh Atid and the National Unity Party [un alt grup de opoziție]”.

Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, the respective leaders of these two centrist parties, announced on Monday evening that they are ready for dialogue with the majority under Herzog’s auspices.

Shortly before that, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had “decided to take a break” from the controversial justice reform bill, which is divisive in the country, to give “a chance for real dialogue” to reach a more consensual decision. text during the summer parliamentary session, which will open on April 30.

“We thank the president for opening his house to the negotiation process for the benefit of the citizens of Israel. We joined him on behalf of the general public who understand how fragile and vulnerable our democracy is,” Yesh Atid wrote on Twitter.

Herzog tried to mediate between supporters and opponents of the reform for several weeks, while outrage only grew after the project was announced in early January.

Likud (right), Netanyahu’s party, confirmed its presence at the meeting, but it was not immediately known if other majority parties were also present.

Netanyahu’s announcement Monday night of a pause in the ongoing legislative process, after a day of intensified protests, the start of a general strike and the emergence of tensions within the majority, was met with skepticism by protesters and several commentators.