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New Coalition and Amram Mitzna will head the Knesset’s House Committee. Like Ms. Livni, both are considered considerably left of center. Moving Left Originally a Likud MK, she left the party in 2005 to join then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima, which was formed for the express purpose of demolishing all Jewish communities in Gush Katif, Gaza. Ms. Livni remained in Kadima, and served as foreign minister in the government of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. According to reports, in that capacity, Ms. Livni, working with Mr. Olmert, agreed to divide Jerusalem and relinquish 94 percent of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians. That effort, however, was insufficient for the PA and there was no peace agreement, but, to this day, PA officials insist that negotiations must begin where they left off under Mr. Olmert rather than, as Mr. Netanyahu has insisted, with no preconditions. In 2009, Ms. Livni, as head of Kadima, won 28 seats, one more than Mr. Netanyahu. However,
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continued from page 45 she failed to form a majority coalition and then refused to join Mr. Netanyahu’s government. Instead she served as head of the opposition until she lost the Kadima leadership election to Shaul Mofaz. “Wrong and Unacceptable” During this year’s election campaign, Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly maintained that the chances of his asking Ms. Livni to join his government and especially to serve as a negotiator with the PA were virtually nil. “Livni managed the negotiations with the Palestinians poorly. Her entire stance is wrong and unacceptable to me,” Mr. Netanyahu said last December. Even after the elections, Ms. Livni was determined to keep Mr. Netanyahu from becoming prime minister. For a few days, she tried very hard to form a blocking coalition with Ms. Yachimovich, Mr. Lapid, and the far-left and Arab parties to prevent Likud from being asked to form a government. Mr. Lapid told reporters he would not even consider joining such a coalition. Without him, Ms. Livni did not
have a sufficient number, and her plan fell apart. When Mr. Netanyahu was recommended to lead the next government by 80 MKs, representing Likud-Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, Jewish Home, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Kadima, Ms. Livni abstained. Room for Likud? News of the agreement between Mr. Netanyahu and Ms. Livni prompted Likud MK Moshe Feiglin to quip that he hoped “Likud will be in the coalition, too.” There did not seem to be any opposition in the Likud to her appointment. Rather, even right-wing Likud MKs seemed to dismiss the possibility that she could do them or their voters any harm. “What matters is not Tzipi Livni but the Likud’s path. Of course, Netanyahu has the mandate to bring in various partners and to create a broadbased stable coalition. That said, Likud members expect that Likud’s path will be the one leading the government,” said Mr. Feiglin. Likud MK Danny Danon said it was important for Ms.
Livni to remember she is “entering a nationalist government.” “Livni is joining Netanyahu’s government; it’s not Likud joining Livni’s government,” said Mr. Danon, adding that he intends “to be there to fight for our values and strengthen the settlement enterprise.” “It is important that the representatives of Hatnua know this,” he said. Preventing “Extremism” Ms. Livni’s seemed more concerned with responding to her critics on the left who were appalled that she had joined the Likud-led government after years of condemning the prime minister’s policies as extremist and harmful. “Entering the coalition will allow us to promote our views regarding the promotion of the peace process. Hatnua will prevent the extremism we saw in the last Knesset,” she said. While such statements may put her on a confrontational course with Likud MKs such as Messrs Danon and Feiglin, as well as Mr. Bennett, Ms. Livni’s appointment brought praise from the foreign press, the Palestinian Authority, and Shas’s
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