Israeli ex-FM announces comeback to politics

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced her return to politics on Tuesday, Nov 27, telling supporters that she was forming a new party to run in January parliamentary elections on a platform promising an aggressive push for peace with the Palestinians, The Associated Press reports.

Livni, who served as Israel's foreign minister and chief peace negotiator from 2006 to 2009, bitterly attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as she announced the formation of her new party, called "The Movement."

"I came to fight for peace ... and I won't allow anyone to turn peace into a bad word," she said.

"Everything is upside down: a government that negotiates with terrorists and freezes all dialogue with those who work to prevent attacks, the opposite message that is needed in the tough neighborhood we live in," Livni said.

A new survey published Tuesday — and based on a presumption that Livni would announce a new party — predicted that her new party would garner nine seats in the 120-seat parliament, while Labor would win 20 and Lapid's party would get only five. That would leave the centrist bloc far short of the 61 seats needed to form a majority coalition.

In contrast, Netanyahu's Likud would win 37 seats, making it by the largest single party in parliament, with hardline nationalist and religious parties giving it a majority.