tagged w/ Kadima
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The final installment of Sam Seder interviewing Daniel Levy, a political scientist Senior Fellow at both the New America Foundation and The Century Foundation and expert on U.S./ Israeli policies.
BreakRoomLive with Maron and Seder is LIVE weekdays, 3-4pm from the Air America Break Room.
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The final installment of Sam Seder interviewing Daniel Levy, a... more
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Part 2 of Sam's interview with Daniel Levy about the recent Israeli elections.
BreakRoomLive with Maron and Seder is LIVE weekdays, 3-4pm from the Air America Break Room.
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Part 2 of Sam's interview with Daniel Levy about the... more
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Moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel’s governing Kadima Party has declared victory in a tight race with hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.Moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel’s governing Kadima Party has... more
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JERUSALEM – Moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her hard-line rival Benjamin Netanyahu each declared victory in Israel's election Tuesday — despite exit polls and early results that showed a slight edge for Livni. Regardless of who gets the most votes, however, Netanyahu's Likud Party appeared to have the upper hand in forming a ruling coalition thanks to strong showing by other right-wing parties.
"With God's help, I will lead the next government," Netanyahu told a raucous crowd of cheering supporters chanting his nickname Bibi. "The national camp, led by the Likud, has won a clear advantage."
Livni aides made similar comments about her winning the election.
Even if she could overcome the formidable obstacles and become Israel's second female prime minister after Golda Meir, the early results suggest she would have to rely on the participation of right-wing parties opposed to her vision of giving up land in exchange for a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Nevertheless, applause, cheers and whistling erupted at Kadima headquarters in Tel Aviv as television stations began reporting their exit polls, with supporters jumping up and down and giving each other high-fives and hugs.
Exit polls gave Livni's Kadima Party a two-seat lead over Likud in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. With 27 percent of the actual votes counted, Kadima had a one-seat advantage — 27 to 26.
Israeli exit polls have not always been reliable, especially when the vote is close, but the projected results marked a dramatic slide for Netanyahu, who had held a solid lead in opinion polls heading into the election.
Early projections showed hard-line parties winning as many as 66 seats in the 120-member parliament, while liberal parties captured just 54 seats.JERUSALEM – Moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her hard-line rival... more
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Early Polls suggested that Tzipi Livni was leading the race to become the next Israeli Prime Minister. Latest poll now shows Likud's Bibi Netanyahu in the lead. Likud has recruited prominent Israeli figures and Bibi has also been vocal on building Peace with the Arabs.Early Polls suggested that Tzipi Livni was leading the race to become the next Israeli... more
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Tzipi Livni's centrist Kadima party has the upper hand on Netanyahu's right wing party so far. Livni is trying to negotiate a peace settlement to set up a Palestinian state but Netanyahu . Livni is seen as a new kind of corruption-free politician.Tzipi Livni's centrist Kadima party has the upper hand on Netanyahu's right... more
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Tzipi Livni has seen a sharp turnaround in fortunes for Israel’s ruling Kadima party since she became leader last month and could now beat the right-wing opposition in a coming election, polls indicated on Monday.
Two newspaper surveys published a day after Livni abandoned her efforts to forge a new coalition government and recommended to the president that he call a parliamentary election showed Kadima just beating Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud – a reversal of the results forecast in previous polls, published in August.
Corruption-free
Ms Livni’s Kadima colleagues attributed the gains to her image as a new kind of corruption-free politician, though few appeared to relish going to polls with an untested leader so soon.
“I think that we didn’t want an election. We wanted to continue in the existing (coalition) configuration,” Environment Minister Gideon Ezra of Kadima told Israel’s Army Radio.
“But this is reality,” he said. “We hope we’ll be able to form an even more stable government after the election.”
With Israel focused on choosing a new leadership, prospects for progress in slow-moving US-sponsored peace negotiations with the Palestinians seem dim.
Washington had hoped for at least a framework agreement by the end of the year.
Centrist Kadima was battered by the 2006 Lebanon war and a slew of graft scandals that forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign last month, although he remains in office until a new government is formed.
Ms Livni replaced Olmert as Kadima leader on September 17.
President Shimon Peres was expected to tell the Knesset later on Monday that a new government could not be established, setting into motion procedures for a new election in late January or in February.
The poll in Yedioth Ahronoth daily predicted Kadima would take 29 of 120 seats in the Knesset – the same number it has now – while Likud would take 26, up from 12.
The Labour party of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Olmert’s main ally in the outgoing government, was seen taking 11 seats, down from 19 now.
A similar poll, also conducted on Sunday, for the Maariv newspaper gave Kadima 31 seats, Likud 29 and Labour 11
Tzipi Livni has seen a sharp turnaround in fortunes for Israel’s ruling Kadima... more
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Likud chairman and opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio on Wednesday that he has no intention of joining a national unity coalition led by Tzipi Livni that would "relinquish the Golan Heights and divide Jerusalem."
"I don't want to build an Iranian base in the Golan Heights or in the heart of Jerusalem," Netanyahu told Army Radio. "This will be a government that will relinquish the Golan Heights and will divide Jerusalem. This is not a government with our (the Likud's) guidelines."
The Likud chair blasted the Kadima chairwoman for pledging to continue negotiations for a final settlement with the Palestinian Authority. "We know what we are dealing with on the other (Palestinian) side," Netanyahu said. "Today, there is no partner. There is a partner to talks but not to deeds. There is no Palestinian alive today who will kill a terrorist operative."
"I won't let Hamas enter East Jerusalem," the opposition chief told Army Radio. "Jerusalem is ours. We did not spill blood so that Hamas can settle in Jerusalem."
When asked how he reconciled his opposition to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights with the fact that he negotiated with Syria during his term as prime minister, Netanyahu replied that his steadfast stance led to key Syrian concessions on the issue of land.
"My first course of action as prime minister was to nullify the famous Rabin deposit," Netanyahu said, referring to Yitzhak Rabin's reported pledge to U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher stating that Israel commits to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for firm security guarantees from Damascus.
Since Livni's narrow victory over Shaul Mofaz in the Kadima primary on Thursday, Netanyahu has sought to play up the difference between Kadima under Livni, who is prepared for territorial compromises, and Likud, which has pledged to keep Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount under Israeli sovereignty.
Netanyahu on Tuesday publicly rejected the call by Livni, Kadima's new chairwoman, to join a national unity government headed by her. Speaking at a news conference at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv, together with Likud MKs, Netanyahu launched an all-out attack on a future Livni cabinet and its expected coalition with Labor and Shas.
"We are not joining a failure and we are the alternative to the failure," Netanyahu told the press. He also reiterated the Likud argument that "it is inconceivable for a small group of Kadima members to decide for the citizens of Israel." Netanyahu declined to divulge the content of his Saturday-night meeting with Labor chairman Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
"We are told that elections will undermine the stability of the government, but the opposite is true. As long as there are no elections there will be no stability. It will be a transitional government constantly preoccupied with its survival," Netanyahu said.
MK Silvan Shalom accused Livni of favoring "her chair over ideology," mentioning the period after the Winograd Committee report on the Second Lebanon War, "when she called on Olmert to resign but remained foreign minister. And after Talansky she mumbled something and stayed in the government."
Likud whip MK Gideon Sa'ar said that within the first 24 hours of coalition talks Livni "had broken all her promises." He said she had given in to Shas' demand to restore cuts made to monthly child allowances. Likud chairman and opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio on... more
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"After congratulating Tzipi Livni, I called on her to coordinate a date for general elections as soon as possible," opposition leader and Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters at a press conference on Thursday evening.
He added that he intended to approach Labor chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Shas Chairman and Labor, Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai, and other faction leaders on the subject.
Netanyahu said that "the only way to stop the deteriorating situation is to enable the people of Israel to elect a new government."
The opposition chairman stated that "anyone who fears the people's decision is not worthy of leading."
"In recent months public norms have been widely discussed. The most decent and democratic step is to hold general elections. We need to let the people of Israel determine who will be Israel's prime minister, not Kadima party members," he said.
"In the last two and a half years the Kadima government has failed in security, economy and education," Netanyahu said. "The only way to stop the deteriorating situation is to enable the people to elect a new government."
The opposition chairman claimed his party could "restore security, boost the education system and stabilize our economy."
Netanyahu said he was confident Israel could be put on the track to success.
"After congratulating Tzipi Livni, I called on her to coordinate a date for... more
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Polls show Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni winning next week's party primary and positioning herself to become Israel's first female prime minister since Golda Meir.
A survey in Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily on Friday showed Livni with a 15 per cent lead over her main rival, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, in the ruling Kadima Party's Sept. 17 primary.
The poll included 850 Kadima members and had a margin of error of 4.5 points.
Kadima is choosing a new leader to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down because of a series of corruption investigations. Elected in 2006, Olmert was supposed to serve until 2010.
A poll in the Maariv daily gave Livni an 18.8 per cent lead over Mofaz, a former military chief of staff and defense minister. The poll included 400 Kadima members and the margin of error was 4.9 points.
In the race, Mofaz has played up his defense credentials and cultivated a tough image. Livni owes her popularity mainly to her reputation for honesty, which resonates with Israelis fed up with a string of corruption charges against public figures.
A fifty-year-old former lawyer who served a brief stint in the Mossad spy agency, Livni has served in a number of Cabinet posts and is currently Israel's lead negotiator in peace talks with the Palestinians.
She spent much of her career as a member of the hawkish Likud Party, and she is the daughter of a famous fighter of the early militant Zionist group Irgun.
However, she has carved a niche for herself as a leading moderate since leaving Likud along with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when he set up the centrist Kadima Party in 2005.
Whoever wins next week's primary would have to cobble together a new coalition in order to become prime minister. If not, the country will hold national elections and Olmert will remain as a caretaker leader in the meantime.
Polls show that if elections were held now the winner would be Benjamin Netanyahu and his hardline Likud Party. That would cast doubt on the continuation of the peace talks Olmert and Livni have been holding with the Palestinians.
If she does become prime minister, Livni would become only the second woman to lead Israel. The first was Meir, a member of Israel's founding generation who governed from 1969 to 1974. Polls show Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni winning next week's party primary and... more
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Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to negotiate on the issue of Jerusalem, as well as parts of the Dead Sea, US Consul-General Jacob Walles said in an interview published by the Palestinian daily, Al-Ayyam on Thursday.
According to the interview, which was cited by Israel Radio, the consul-general said that negotiations would be based on the 1967 borders, with changes to those borders being possible should both sides agree.
Walles told the paper that the other core issues, including that of the refugees, were also expected to be discussed.
In response to the report, the US State Department issued a statement asserting that the US government had not taken a position on the borders of a future Palestinian state.
"While the discussions between the parties are confidential, we can state that the parties have not in any way prejudiced long held views on borders," the statement said.
"A senior US official who participated in the discussions denies that the Israeli side, led by chief negotiator, Foreign Minister [Tzipi] Livni, has been willing to negotiate concerning Jerusalem," it continued.
Also responding to the report, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Walles' comments proved the ineptitude of the current government.
"The government lost all moral validity and legitimacy a long time ago," he said. "The time has come to hold elections."
Continued....
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to negotiate on the issue of Jerusalem, as... more
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will step down immediately after his party chooses a successor this month, a confidant said Thursday, shooting down speculation the Israeli leader would try to linger in office for months.
The announcement means that Israel could find itself racing to form a new government in as little as a week. And it raised new questions about Washington's stated goal of brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by year's end.
Olmert, who is battling a corruption investigation, announced in July that he would resign some time after his Kadima Party chooses a new leader in a Sept. 17 primary.
But he was vague about the timing of his exit, raising speculation that he would try to hold onto power. Under Israel's complicated political system, Olmert could theoretically stretch out the transition process for months.
The confidant said Olmert will announce his formal resignation "immediately following the primary." The confidant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Olmert has not publicly revealed his plans, is in close daily contact with Olmert.
Olmert would stay on as a caretaker while his successor cobbles together a new coalition.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will step down immediately after his party chooses a... more
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