"Good fences make good neighbors," wrote the poet Robert Frost, and this proverb sometimes also applies to political parties. Such is the case with the increasingly interwoven ties between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu. As long Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman had a legal cloud hovering over his head, he had no reason to shake up the partnership with Likud that took shape before the last Knesset election, even though the election results were disappointing. Ahead of the election, Lieberman spoke of the Likud-Yisrael Beytenu joint list receiving 45 Knesset seats, but in the end it got only 31. Now, having been acquitted of corruption charges, Lieberman could exercise his threat to dissolve the partnership with Likud. But the situation is more complex, as Lieberman would in fact prefer to go in the opposite direction and merge with Likud, with the goal of becoming its leader. Past parliamentary experience shows that joint lists produce unnecessary tension. Neighbors are better off living in two small apartments next door to each other rather than in one large joint apartment. As in real estate, privacy is also valuable in politics. Lieberman claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised him a merger between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu. But even if Netanyahu made such a pledge, he does not have the power to fulfill it. Many Likud ministers, deputy ministers and MKs strongly oppose a merger with Yisrael Beytenu. A continuation of the current arrangement will only lead to increased friction, accompanied by anger and hostility. This would not be beneficial. Netanyahu's main focus right now is the ongoing struggle against the Iranian nuclear program and the pressure being applied on Israel in peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, so it would be best for Likud and Yisrael Beytenu to part as friends. If they stay together, however, an anomalous situation will prevail. The governing coalition will be buffered by constant instability. Yesh Atid, with 19 MKs, has five ministers, while Habayit Hayehudi, with 12 MKs, has three ministers. Yet while Yisrael Beytenu has only 11 MKs, five are now ministers. Until now, there were four Yisrael Beytenu ministers, pending the outcome of Lieberman's trial. But with Lieberman having been reinstated as foreign minister, it is now impossible to ignore the imbalance in the coalition. It would be a mistake to use committee chairmanships as compensation to other parties for Yisrael Beytenu's over-representation in the cabinet. With Lieberman now a minister, Tourism Minister Uzi Landau or Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir, both from Yisrael Beytenu, could honorably leave the cabinet and take Lieberman's spot as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. This game of musical chairs shows that the coalition is not following the rules that it set for itself. Meanwhile, on the other side of the political divide, Labor is holding an internal leadership election soon, and the sounds of an earthquake are being heard from afar. Current Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich rushed to hold the vote, feeling that her re-election was assured, but challenger Isaac Herzog is putting up a very good fight. The support that Herzog has received from a majority of the ministers who served in Yitzhak Rabin's government in the 1990s shows that even though Yachimovich and Herzog were born the same year, the contest between them is intergenerational. The results of the Labor election will shift the lay of the land somewhat and may cause rocks to collapse all over the political map.