Livni, Tzipi, 1958-, Israeli politican, b. Tel Aviv. The daughter of Polish immigrants, both members of the violent Irgun militia, Livni served in the Israeli army, worked for Israeli intelligence in Paris, and later (1984-96) practiced law. She was elected to the Knesset in 1999 as a member of the conservative Likud party. In 2005 she was named justice minister by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That same year they both broke with Likud and were among the founders of the more centrist Kadima party. Originally a hard-line proponent of Israel's absolute right to the West Bank and Gaza, she came to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. She facilitated Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and led peace talks with Palestinians. When Ehud Olmert became prime minister (2006), she was appointed foreign minister. Olmert resigned in 2008 and Livni was narrowly elected party leader, but she failed to become prime minister when she was unable to form a new governing coalition.

Yeruham "Eitan" Livni (ירוחם "איתן" לבני, 1919 – 27 December, 1991) was a Revisionist Zionist activist, Irgun commander and Israeli politician.

Biography

Livni was born in Grodno, Poland (today Hrodna, Belarus) in 1919. His family moved to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1925 and settled in Tel Aviv. He went to High School and Trade School in Tel Aviv, and in 1938 he joined the Betar Company at Zikhron Ya'aqov, where he was assigned to agricultural work and guard duty. Soon after, he joined the Irgun, and a year later, he was summoned to a commanders course at Tel Tzur (near Binyamina).

When the Irgun proclaimed its "revolt" against the British in February 1944, he was put in charge of the Irgun activities, and was later appointed to the General Headquarters as chief operations officer. He was arrested on April 4, 1946, for his participation in the "Night of the Trains". He was sentenced, together with his comrades, to 15 years imprisonment, but was freed two years later in the Acre Prison break. He was sent clandestinely to Europe to organize action against British targets there, and on May 15, 1948, he returned home to take part in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

After Israel was established in 1948, He and Sara Rosenberg, a fellow Irgun activist, became the first couple to marry in the new Jewish state. He was chairman of the Wood Products Department of the Industrialists Association from 1949 to 1959, and owner of the “Ariah” Starch Factory until 1965. He was a member of the Directorate and Secretariat of the Herut Movement in 1960 and Head of its Organization Department in 1965. He was also the chairman of the Union of Irgun Soldiers between 1962 and 1980 and chairman of Acre and Jerusalem Prisoners Association in 1963.

In 1968 he became a member of Directorate of Gahal and later of Likud, and was the chairman of Directorate of Likud from 1970 to 1971. He was elected to the Knesset in 1973, 1977 and 1981. He was a member of the Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Defense and State Control Committees.

He died in 1991. At his specific request, the Irgun emblem was engraved on his headstone. After his death, his daughter, Tzipi, entered the Israeli political scene, and has since become a prominent minister for Likud and later for Kadima.

Bibliography

• Personal Story of Operations Officer of Etzel (1983)

References

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