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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (Reuters)
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916758.html)
Livni behind closed doors: Iran nukes pose little threat to Israel
By Gidi Weitz and Na'ama Lanski, Haaretz Correspondents
Haaretz (Jerusalem), October 25, 2007
_http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916758.html_
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916758.html)
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a few months ago in a series of closed
discussions that in her opinion that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an
existential threat to Israel, Haaretz magazine reveals in an article on Livni
to be
published Friday.
Livni also criticized the exaggerated use that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is
making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to
rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears. Last week,
former
Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy said similar things about Iran.
The article also reveals for the first time a document Livni prepared and
sent to Olmert a few months after the Second Lebanon War proposing a new
division
of labor between the two. "Enclosed is a proposal for work procedures between
us, with the aim of providing an answer to Israel's strategic needs and
facilitating early planning and the formulation of coordinated Israeli
positions
... within the framework of cooperative relations, full transparency and
continuous mutual updates," wrote Livni.
She described in the document a number of required arrangements: "The prime
minister and the foreign minister will hold regular work meetings at least once
a week." In an allusion to her absence form critical discussions during the
war in Lebanon, she wrote: "The foreign minister will be invited to meetings
with the prime minister on security matters and other meetings with serious
implications."
The most important part of the document relates to the talks with the
Palestinians. Livni wrote: "The foreign minister shall represent the prime
minister
and the government of Israel, and will act on their behalf as the director of
the dialogue with the relevant Palestinian representatives, and in accordance
with the policy and methods to be coordinated in advance with the prime
minster, while keeping him informed."
It is reasonable to assume that Olmert's decision to appoint Livni as head of
the negotiating team with the Palestinians at the Annapolis summit is
connected to the document.
The Haaretz article also reveals for the first time a draft of a document
prepared for Livni by her advisor, Dr. Tal Becker of the Foreign Ministry, who
is
slated to serve as a senior member of the negotiating team with the
Palestinians. The draft, named the Diplomatic Horizon, is pessimistic about the
chances
of reaching a permanent solution in the near future.
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