Thursday, October 22, 2009

At least one good thing! Ex-U.S. envoy: Livni told Palestinians to reject Olmert peace offer

(Haaretz).During her tenure as foreign minister, Tzipi Livni advised the Palestinian Authority to reject then-prime minister Ehud Olmert's proposals for a peace agreement, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said on Thursday.

"The prime minister was about to have an indictment filed against him and the foreign minister herself specifically told both the Americans and the Palestinians: Don't you dare sign the agreement," Indyk said, during a panel discussion at President Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.

He made the comment the panel's facilitator, Channel 2 reporter Udi Segal, asked whether the Palestinians had missed an opportunity in rejecting Olmert's peace offers.

Livni on Thursday denied Indyk's appraisal, telling Army Radio she had not been involved in the discussions between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"I wasn't party to the Olmert-Abbas contacts, and only once the proposal was released did I publicly say that it was unacceptable to me," said Livni. "There was no need to speak behind Olmert's back.