Israel In Political Turmoil, Peace Talks Could End

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.