Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Livni to party: I'll strike deal with PA

Gil Hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will work to sign a final-status agreement with the Palestinian Authority if she wins next Wednesday's Kadima primary, she writes in a letter to some 70,000 Kadima members. Livni has faced criticism from political opponents for not revealing her opinions on diplomatic issues. But she insists in closed conversations that she has made clear she favors two states for two peoples with borders based on security, demographics and the need to maintain control over Jewish holy sites.

"I promise to act with responsibility and good judgment to reach a permanent agreement via dialogue with the pragmatic Palestinians while struggling determinedly against the Palestinian extremists in order to allow the State of Israel to continue to be Jewish and democratic with a Jewish majority living securely within final borders," she wrote in the letter.

Livni included in her missive the results of a poll indicating that she would bring Kadima many more Knesset mandates than her rivals. She also introduced a new slogan: "Only with Tzipi Livni can Kadima win."

She called on the party members to exercise their right to vote in the primary. The foreign minister needs high voter turnout, because her main opponent, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, is said to have stronger field organization.

In what could be a blow to Mofaz, Kadima's election committee decided on Tuesday to remove from the party's ranks 3,691 members who were found to illegally also be members of Likud. The decision is liable to hurt Mofaz, because many Likud vote contractors worked on his behalf in the Kadima membership drive.

The Likud removed the same names from its membership list but immediately invited them to rejoin the party. But Kadima decided that the members would not be allowed to return unless they proved that they actively tried to remove themselves from the Likud list before the Kadima membership drive ended.

"They need to prove that they didn't want to be in the Likud anymore," a Kadima official said. "We don't want to whitewash people who committed crimes."

Mofaz's spokeswoman said his supporters had left the Likud, so the decision would not hurt him. But a source present at the election committee meeting said Mofaz's representative was the only one who tried to prevent the double-members' removal.

In a sign of confidence that they will win, both Mofaz and Livni have held discussions with top Shas officials about forming a new government after the primary. Channel 1 revealed that all four candidates would replace Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann if they win the race.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter campaigned in the Arab and Druse sectors on Tuesday and celebrated Ramadan with them. Livni also did her part to reach out to Arab members when she gave an interview in her Tel Aviv office to a crew from the Saudi-based television network Al-Arabiya.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1220802297512&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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