Tzipi Livni

Tzipora Malka "Tzipi" Livni (ציפורה מלכה "ציפי" לבני, born 8 July 1958 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is Foreign Affairs Minister and the designated Acting Prime Minister of Israel.

On 17 September 2008, Livni was elected leader of the Kadima party, giving her the opportunity to seek to form a government that would gain support from a majority of the Knesset, Israel's parliament. If she succeeds in forming a government, Livni will become the second female Prime Minister of Israel, after Golda Meir.

Biography

Born in Tel Aviv, Livni is the daughter of Eitan Livni (born in Poland) and Sara Rosenberg, both prominent former Irgun members. Tzipi Livni served as a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces and worked for the Mossad for nearly two years during the early 1980s, resigning in August 1983 to marry and finish her law studies. It was rumored that she was a terrorist hunter for the Mossad, but recent findings suggest that Livni was a low level agent. She was hired to live in a Paris apartment to maintain the appearance of a regular residential property. A graduate of Bar Ilan University's Faculty of Law, she has 10 years experience as a practicing lawyer specializing in public and commercial law. Livni resides in Tel Aviv; she is married to accountant Naftali Spitzer and has two children, Omri and Yuval. According to her childhood friend Mirla Gal, Livni is a vegetarian. Livni speaks Hebrew, English, and French.

Political career

Early career

Livni was first elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud party in 1999. When Likud leader Ariel Sharon became prime minister in July 2001, Livni was appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation, and thereafter held various Cabinet positions including Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Housing and Construction. She received the Abirat Ha-Shilton ("Quality of Governance") award for 2004. On 1 October 2005, she was appointed Minister of Justice after several months acting in that position.

In Sharon's Cabinet, Livni was an avid supporter of the prime minister's disengagement plan and was generally considered to be among the key dovish or moderate members of the Likud party. She often mediated between various elements inside the party, and gained recognition for her efforts to achieve peace, particularly her successful efforts to have the pullout from the Gaza Strip ratified by the Knesset. On 12 November 2005, she spoke at the official yearly commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.

Joining Kadima

On 20 November 2005, Livni followed Sharon and Ehud Olmert into the new Kadima Party. Ahead of the 28 March elections Livni was appointed to be the new Foreign Minister, while continuing to serve as Justice Minister, as a result of the mass resignation of Likud Party members from the government.

In the selection of candidates for the March 2006 Knesset election, Livni was awarded the number three position on Kadima's list of candidates, which effectively guaranteed her election to the Knesset.

On 4 May 2006, with the swearing-in of the 31st Government, Livni became Vice (or Deputy) Prime Minister and retained the position of Foreign Minister. She ceased serving as Justice Minister at that time, but again held that position from 29 November 2006 to 7 February 2007, while still serving in her primary role of Foreign Minister.

After the March 2006 Knesset election, Livni was described as "the second most powerful politician in Israel". Livni is the second woman in Israel to hold the post of foreign minister, after Golda Meir. In 2007, she was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World. Forbes ranked her the 52nd most powerful woman in the world.

Livni became the first Israeli cabinet minister to explicitly differentiate Palestinian guerrilla attacks against Israeli military targets from terrorist attacks against civilians. In an interview on the US television news show Nightline, recorded on 28 March 2006, Livni stated:

"Somebody who is fighting against Israeli soldiers is an enemy and we will fight back, but I believe that this is not under the definition of terrorism, if the target is a soldier."

In 2007, she met with Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, to discuss "improving the lives of the Palestinian people, without compromising Israel's security".

On 2 May 2007, Livni called for Olmert's resignation in the wake of the publication of the Winograd Commission's interim report. She offered herself as leader of Kadima if Olmert decides to step down, and asserted her confidence in her ability to defeat him in a party election should he decline. However, her call was ignored by Olmert and her decision to stay in the Cabinet sparked some controversy.

Leadership of Kadima

In the Kadima leadership election of 17 September 2008, Olmert decided not to stand for re-election as party leader and stated he would resign as Prime Minister following the election. Livni and Shaul Mofaz emerged as the main rivals for the leadership. Livni won the Kadima leadership election by a margin of just 431 votes (1%).

Upon declaring victory in the leadership election, Livni said the "national responsibility (bestowed) by the public brings me to approach this job with great reverence".

On 21 September 2008, Olmert formally resigned his office in a letter submitted to President Shimon Peres, and the following day Peres formally asked Livni to form a new government. Livni now faces tough negotiations with Kadima's current coalition partners, particularly the Shas party, which has set conditions for joining a Livni government. If Livni fails to form a coalition representing at least 61 votes in the Knesset within 42 days of her nomination by Peres, new elections will be called. Likud, the main opposition party, has been lobbying Shas and other parties seeking to bring about that result.

References

External links

• Tzipi Livni's official website

• Tzipi Livni on the Palestinian issue at IMEU.net