Bethel Finance: Livni: Netanyahu, you have a peace partner

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Bethel Finance news:

At the "Globes" Israel Business Conference today, opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the opportunity of the Arab Spring to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.

Livni said, "Israel is in a tough neighborhood and processes are underway around us. The young people came onto the streets in Arab countries to fight for their rights and character of the country they live in. The international response was to welcome them, but we have to see how these events will affect us, more as a critic and less than a welcome.

"The extremists will also have to take international opinion into account, because they need it."

As for Israel's role, Livni said, "The policy of stalemate is not in Israel's interest. It is clear to me that the conflict is not the cause for extremism, but it also obvious that the conflict is misused to exacerbate it in order to win the support of radicals.

"A solution to the conflict is a clear Israeli interest. It isn't enough for leaders to say, 'two states for two peoples'. It is possible to act, and we must. We shouldn’t look inward."

Commenting on her meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu-Mazen) last week, Livni said, "I met with Abu-Mazen. It's possible to open negotiations with the Palestinians now. I called Netanyahu and asked for a meeting. I told him that this is not a coalition-opposition matter. I told him that everyone must take into account that the situation might change. I asked him whether we have done everything possible under the circumstances.

"While we're looking warily at regional developments, the time has come to ask ourselves what is happening at home. There is a struggle underway over the face of Israeli society and Zionism. This struggle is over the source of authority - law or halakha (Jewish religious law)."

Livni concluded, "I have picked the side of defending the Supreme Court. I will continue to fight for the right of people to speak their minds. Israel cannot allow itself to look at what is happening outside and interpret it without looking at our own extremists."