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TEL AVIV (CBC) – Israel is heading for a period of political turmoil after prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni gave up efforts to form a coalition government. Her decision, which was widely expected, means the country is heading for parliamentary elections, probably early in 2009.
Livni, who took over the ruling coalition headed by her Kadima Party in September, could not come to terms with the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which said Friday it would not back a Livni-led coalition.
Livni is expected to formally tell President Shimon Peres about her decision later today, although parliament speaker Dalia Itzik was meeting Livni to see if there was a way to save the coalition.
PEACE TALKS COULD END
Recent polls indicate that the hawkish Likud party, headed by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would win an election if it was held immediately.
Netanyahu has said he would not continue peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Livni has been Israel’s top negotiator, although both the Israelis and Palestinians have acknowledged that the deadline for a deal this year is not realistic.
“Time is precious. The next few months will be wasted because of new elections and the U.S. elections,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A spokesman for the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the failure to form a government “is a slap in the face to those who still dream of negotiations.” Hamas, which rejects Israel’s right to exist, has criticized Abbas for negotiating with Israel.
Livni replaced former prime minister Ehud Olmert in September, when he resigned because of corruption allegations. Olmert has been a peace proponent, suggesting that Israel would have to give up the West Bank and east Jerusalem to meet Palestinian demands.
He also said Israel would have to give the Golan Heights back to Syria to make peace with that country. Israel captured the land in the 1967 war, and has been holding unofficial peace talks with Syria since mid-2007.
(IHT) March 14, 2008 – “For the Palestinian state to succeed, you need to start getting the reality of that state on the ground before political negotiations can be meaningful. The state is not about an agreement, but about Palestinian capabilities in handling security and their economy.”
Every Palestinian-Israeli peace effort has been killed off by the sound of war. It’s been as if violence is irremediably built in to peace-making. Instead of the elusive agreement, all the two peoples have come to expect is a never-ending cacophony of terror, mayhem and hopelessness.
The sequences of peace-making used to go this way: Implement a cease-fire; then deal with the interim issues – fighting terror (the Palestinians) versus freezing settlements (Israel); and only after that, grapple with the core issues of borders, security, refugees and Jerusalem.
At Annapolis, the old score was re-orchestrated. Israelis and Palestinians were coaxed into going beyond the tyranny of “who starts” in implementing the paralyzing interim issues and, instead, to get down to the final phase of peace-making.
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RAM, West Bank (IHT) – Palestinians now have a new way to express their national pride – through soccer.
The Palestinian soccer team was scheduled to play an international game on home soil for the first time in the West Bank’s only regulation-size stadium. Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, called the event “historic.”
“We are here to realize a dream, that is the national team of Palestine playing in its own stadium,” Blatter said before the friendly game against Jordan.
Thousands watched the friendly game against Jordan, and the crowd roared as the Palestinians scored several minutes after kickoff.
In a joint pre-game news conference with Blatter, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad urged more foreign teams to play in the Palestinian territories. “This is a sign of solidarity, it’s a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people during a time of hardship,” Fayyad said.
Blatter was received like a head of state and spent much of the day in the company of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
For Palestinians, the international recognition is meaningful. “We now have a stadium, and the Palestinian flag will be flying in this stadium,” said Wissam Abu Sharif, a 30-year-old football fan. “Palestine is on the map of international sports.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Oui,
This is interesting:
The arrest of Sinbad in Germany- 10 years spying down the drain – a spy mixup said to be a significant setback to espionage efforts against Iran’s nuclear program.
It is not the Israeli settlers who are ultimately at fault, but the government which condones settlement expansion and the continual parade of new settlers into the West Bank and East Jerusalem, most of whom just opted for a cheap US financed mortgage. Such expansion occurred before, during, and after the Annapolis conference, and in spite of Condi’s efforts to push a peace plan forward.
UN debates West Bank settlements
From Al-Jezzera, Sept, 2008