Opposition leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) met the visiting Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Monday afternoon. She spoke to him about the Arab rioting in the past week following the inclusion of the Cave of Machpelah (Cave of Patriarchs) and Rochel's Tomb in the government's list of heritage sites, and warned: “The diplomatic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is about to turn into a religious one that will be impossible to solve.”
"I call upon the Palestinian leadership to stop the deterioration in the situation before it is too late,” she said, “regardless of their basic position about the latest decisions arrived at in Israel. The situation we find ourselves heading into does not serve either side's interest and last week's slide down a slippery slope is to be avoided.”
Last week, Livni expressed criticism of the government's decision to include the two holy Jewish sites in the heritage list, while also expressing solidarity with the government. "We will not accept all of the threats of violence and intifadah that come from the other side in moments like this,” she said. “These are moments that even in the face of [the government's] shlemiel-like [a 'shlemiel' is an unlucky bungler – ed.] behavior, the price of which we all pay, a unified voice must come out of Israel.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Senator Kerry in his office Monday morning. The Prime Minister's Bureau stated that the meeting dealt with the central subjects on the agenda, which were topped by the nuclear threat from Iran and ways to renew the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Kerry met with President Shimon Peres today as well. Peres told him that the West must protect Arab countries that are threatened by Iran. Perry expressed a wish to see Israel and the Palestinian Authority sitting together to negotiate.