Tzipi Livni
Tzipi LivniFlash 90

A proposal to annex the Jordan Valley will not succeed in making the area a part of the Jewish State, said Justice Minister Tzippy Livni Monday. All it would do is embarrass Israel and its government.

“As usual on Sundays, we were witness to a proposal designed to embarrass and trip up the government,” Livni said in a meeting of her Hatnua faction.

“These measures serve to embarrass not only those proposing them, but also those who support them,” she said, referring to the Likud ministers who supported the proposal to annex the Jordan Valley passed by the Cabinet Sunday.

Four ministers voted in favor of the draft law, which was proposed Likud MK Miri Regev. Three opposed it.

“I understand the weakness of politicians who are faced with threats from the radical elements in their party,” Livni said. “I too was once in the Likud. But a policy like this cannot be adopted by a responsible state like Israel,” she added, in a snipe at her former party, headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Israel is doing well economically, Livni said, “but we have to face the facts – the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is our 'glass ceiling,' holding us back from thriving. We stand at a crossroads: One way would have us isolate ourselves. This is the way of those who are in favor of these annexations. They will only succeed in turning us into the most isolated 'settlement' in the world.

“I want to take another approach,” she added, “an approach that opens Israel to the rest of the world, cracking the glass ceiling and bringing more opportunities, and economic, scientific, and academic cooperation. I want to see a liberal, Zionist Israel, not a conservative, nationalistic one.”