
Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni is living up to her title as Opposition leader and by putting the blame on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the Hamas-Fatah agreement.
Livni has been embittered by her failure to win a coalition majority after the last general elections. Her latest jab at the prime minister comes on the heels of near total national unity. Even President Shimon Peres sharply criticized Mahmoud Abbas’ agreement for Palestinian Authority unity with the Hamas terrorist organization.
Livni supported Prime Minister Netanyahu’s harsh criticism of the deal but asserted that his “unwillingness to cooperate for the sake of peace drove Fatah leader Abbas into Hamas’s arms.
She claimed that the Olmert administration, in which she was Foreign Minister, was faced with the Hamas overthrow of Fatah in Gaza.
“We contacted of all the countries and recruited them to our side. We said we were interested in peace but only with a party who actually wants peace – not Hamas,” she told IDF Army Radio.
Livni did not explain what the difference was between her policies and those of the current Likud-led coalition. She reasoned that since Israel was talking with the Palestinian Authority when she left office, the current government is to blame for the lack of talks, which in fact were suspended despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s agreement to Abbas’s demand to freeze all building of new Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria for 10 months last year.
Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Cabinet Sunday morning that the entire world should be concerned by the Hamas-Fatah accord.
“The agreement that was initialed recently between Hamas, which calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, and the Fatah movement, must concern not only every Israeli, but all those in the world who aspire to see peace between us and our Palestinian neighbors,” he said.
“Peace is possible only with those who want to live in peace alongside us and not with those who want to destroy us,” he continued. “Israel extends its hand in peace to all peoples of the region, to all of our neighbors that aspire to live alongside us in peace, and will stand steadfast against whoever tries to attack us and endanger our existence.
“I will deliver this clear message to world capitals, and especially to European leaders, during my visits to London and Paris this week," he said.