Reopening negotiations over the new egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall could jeopardize the entire plan, warns Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, who played an instrumental role in drafting its guiding principles.

“Every word and principle in the agreement involved concessions,” he told Haaretz, in his first public statement since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated his willingness to modify the plan, under pressure from ultra-Orthodox coalition partners. “Once you start dismantling it, everything can fall apart.”

Introducing major changes into the agreement, he cautioned, could also “undermine the level of trust that has been established between the prime minister and the leaders of world Jewry.”