Livni rejects interim agreement with Palestinians

Israel will not shift its position in the ongoing negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says, and she will plans to tell that to the Quartet on the Middle East issues when she meets them in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt next Sunday, one year after the Annapolis "peace summit."

The Quartet consists of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia. In attendance in Sunday's meeting will be UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (pictured at left with Livni during a previous visit, credit:Flash90).

She is scheduled to give an unusual joint briefing on the state of peace talks with top PA negotiator Ahmed Qureia, making what amounts to a shared declaration. Livni had refused to write up a joint document declaring their achievements before the international forum. The shared briefing was deemed to be the next best thing for the Quartet. "We have no intentions of putting together an interim agreement, only to work in accordance with Israeli interests which have, in the past, already been presented," Livni told Ynet on Monday.

"I am going there to present the Israeli standpoint before the foreign ministers and Quartet brass, and to present what we have accomplished. I will tell them that Israel is genuine in its desire to continue the negotiations. However, I intend to continue these talks as they have been conducted thus far," she said. "The talks aim to negotiate the various points of all the issues on the agenda, and so far this is how they have gone. I have no intention of capitulating to any sort of pressure to produce interim documents. Do you know me as someone can be pressured?"

Tags: Annapolis, Livni, Quartet, politics

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Comment by Robert Bernier on November 4, 2008 at 10:30am: About rights and legitimacy - Mr. Kouchnere, when will France return the occupied Alsace and Lotharingia to Germany ?
The “Mandate for Palestine” granted Jews the irrevocable right to settle anywhere in Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, a right unaltered in international law and valid to this day. Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria (the West Bank), Gaza and the whole of Jerusalem are legal. In fact, when you think about it, the major question is: where should the Palestinian arabs be resettled? that and the need for Israel to stand firm and look out for its own interests for a change. More at :
http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-paradigm-for-israeli-palestinian_19.html

Comment by Robert Bernier on November 4, 2008 at 10:23am: Israel and the Arabs.
Many, particularly on the American and European Left, believe that if the U.S. decreases its support for Israel, and if Israel surrenders further territory, jihad violence will cease. This is as naïve as it is untrue. The Muslim Brotherhood, for instance, the first modern Islamic terrorist organization and the direct ancestor of Hamas and Al-Qaeda, was founded in 1928 – twenty years before the founding of the State of Israel. Mahmoud Zahar, the Hamas Foreign Minister, says: “Even if the U.S. gave us all its money in return for recognizing Israel and giving up one inch of Palestine, we would never do so even if this costs us our lives.” To understand the M-E : http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2008/09/no-mr-kouchner-mideast-reality-is-not_28.html

Comment by RonaldH on November 4, 2008 at 3:10am: Good to hear Livni say there will be no interim agreements. However, in the absence of strong Israeli leadership and a coherent direction in her policies, it seems like a good time to place a wedge into the Quartet that may splinter it. Russia and the US are on poor diplomatic terms. Israel should calculate ways to play their differences off on each other. The Quartet never intended to help Israel anyway. It has always meant to pressure Israel into unwise actions that would weaken Israel's security. And the UN has no useful role to play in the future of Israel. So I say, set the Quartet to fighting each other and Livni can laugh all the way home..