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Tzipi Livni’s New Role Amounts to Sleight of Hand

The great powers given to Hatenua leader Tzipi Livni in negotiations with the Palestinians are mere sleight of hand, writes Nadav Perry, since the chances for a diplomatic breakthrough are almost nonexistent.
Tzipi Livni, head of Hatenuah centrist party, is silhouetted against a screen during an event to mark the end of her party's campaign in the southern town of Sderot January 20, 2013. Livni, former Israeli foreign minister and ex-Kadima leader, founded the party just two months ago as a centrist alternative to Israel's right-wing leadership. According to opinion polls, Hatenuah could capture up to 11 seats in the legislature. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3CPI4
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Let us all congratulate [Hatenua leader] Tzipi Livni: She got what she wanted. The coalition agreement she signed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves no room for doubt: Livni assumes center stage in conducting negotiations with the Palestinians. Livni will be the prime minister’s negotiator, she will coordinate the diplomatic negotiations and there will be no other communication channel with the Palestinians to bypass her. Yes, the Hatenua chairwoman went to such extreme detail in the coalition agreement that she even inserted a clause instructing all the government ministries and relevant bodies to assist her in the conducting of diplomatic negotiations. So far, so good — except for one minor point: There are no diplomatic negotiations, there have been none in the last four years, and it is very doubtful that there will be negotiations in the coming years either.

But evidently, an important fact must have escaped the incoming justice minister's eyes. Throughout the past government’s term of office, while Livni was hard-pressed to lead the opposition, the Palestinians set a precondition for the renewal of talks with Israel: absolute discontinuation of construction in the settlements. Even when Israel was so kind as to declare a 10-month construction freeze, Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen refused to renew negotiations because the freeze did not include building in East Jerusalem neighborhoods. Only toward the end of the period did the Palestinians consent to renewed negotiations, but they stopped immediately when Israel went back to building in the territories.

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