Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni suffered a blow from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
on Thursday when Yediot Aharonot revealed concessions that he and Livni
allegedly made to the Palestinians.
According to the report, Olmert told US envoy George Mitchell that he and
Livni agreed to divide Jerusalem, maintain only settlement blocs in the West
Bank and uproot 60,000 Jews from their homes.
The revelations of the concessions less than two weeks before the February
10 election reportedly upset Livni, who told confidants that she believed
Olmert, her predecessor as Kadima leader, was purposely harming her.
In a speech to Tel Aviv-Jaffa College students, Livni denied that Olmert was
speaking for her when he talked to Mitchell.
"The headline does not represent me or what I am advancing," she said.
"I will only advance an agreement that represents our interests of
maintaining a maximum of [West Bank Jewish] residents, keeping places that
are important to us especially in Jerusalem, and not allowing the return of
a single refugee."
"Everyone knows that Olmert doesn't represent anyone but himself," a source
close to Livni added.
Olmert's associates denied any intention of harming Livni and said they were
not behind the leak to the newspaper.
"Any attempt to accuse the prime minister of purposely harming [Livni's
campaign] is baseless and wicked," a source close to Olmert said. "The prime
minister met with Kadima leaders on Sunday and said that he was ready to
help with anything they wanted. I don't know of any request received from
them since then."
Livni's opponent in the election, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, said he
would not feel obligated by any of Olmert's commitments if he won the race
for prime minister. He accused Livni of secretly making dangerous
concessions to the Palestinians.
"She said she was a partner to all the decisions made by the Kadima
government," Netanyahu told Army Radio. "Now we see what she decided and
what she conceded."
Netanyahu vowed to not uproot any Jews from their homes if elected.
The opposition leader also denied an allegation from Livni that he had
already concluded a coalition deal with Shas. Kadima decided on Thursday
against announcing that it had no plans to invite Shas to join a Kadima-led
coalition.
"She practically begged Shas to join the coalition before, so no one should
believe her now," Netanyahu said.
"Livni sat in a coalition with Shas and didn't leave. She is sitting in a
coalition with Shas now and not leaving, and I am sure she will sit with
them again. The only reason she didn't reach a deal with them was because
she intended to divide Jerusalem, which we see proven in the paper today,"
he said.
Netanyahu formally rejected Livni's offer of a debate on Thursday when he
said that "the real debate will happen at the ballot box."
