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| May 2007 - Tzipi Livni - IN EAGER ANTICIPATION | |
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The initial impression is actually quite amiable. In her public appearances, Foreign Minister Zippy Livni avoids ceremony. She takes up a charming stance, her head tilted to one side, her hair floating free. Her speech is direct, without rhetorical frills. Her regard likewise is direct, expressing integrity and candour. In a spirit of unfettered youthfulness, she insists on retaining the nickname "Zippy". An observer requires no great effort to roll back the years and visualize her as a teenager in the uniform of the Beitar youth movement, vehemently defending her creed. She's all charm and appeal. And furthermore, we should not overlook her good looks, which even drew enthusiastic approval from Russian president Vladimir Putin, a man not known for easy spontaneity.
Beyond external appearances, she also conveys a message of promise. Admittedly, Livni is a senior member of the Olmart cabinet, but she takes care her reservations over its dominant line of policy get a public airing. It is an open secret that she supported efforts to curtail combat in last summer's war in Lebanon. In relation to the Palestinians, she shuns the condescending and belligerent tone adopted by her cabinet colleagues. Frequently - particularly when she stars along with her US counterpart Condoleeze Rice in the "duo of Graces" - she is in the habit of bravely declaring her conviction that the Palestinians require a "political horizon". Admittedly, she avoids spelling out what that means, but her statements are interpreted as a final discarding of the Jabotinskyite ideology she imbibed in her youth, and a coded message assuring the Palestinian people of an end to the occupation and a future of true independence.
The seriousness of Livni's intention of carving out her own independent path has been confirmed by her declaration that in due time, she would enter the contest for leadership of the Kadima party. Those intentions have been further underlined since publication of the Winograd interim report, as she has emerged as a serious rival to Olmert, indeed urging him to his face to resign. In her leadership ambitions, she can rely on a popularity borne out by opinion polls, a reputation for honesty and probity (rare traits nowadays !) and the humane and liberal tone of her utterances. And again, the gender element: the veiled but nevertheless deeply rooted assumption - even entertained by most men, who continue to believe, despite the disillusionment inspired by figures like Catherine of Russia, Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher - that a mother in a leadership position "must" be more considerate, more humane and compassionate…
In the intellectual wilderness of Israel's conventional politics in a moral morasse swallowing up any hope of honest leadership - Livni stands up clean and upstanding, radiating hope of a different and better course. As the Israeli public finds itself drowning in the muddy waters of corruption and misconduct - Zippy Livni seems to offer virtually the only straw to grasp.
But a straw is just that - a straw, even when it is alluring in its verdant freshness. Looking beyond external impressions, one soon uncovers the "straw"-like nature of the Livni promise. It is not hard to discover that, behind the attractive fa?ade, there lurks a grey, run-of-the-mill politician who adheres to all the basic tenets of the political-military establishment of which she is an organic and loyal component. (We should not overlook her erstwhile employment with the Mossad, where she appears to have fallen in line with the dominant doctrines ! Likewise, we should not overlook her actions in her former post as justice minister, when she promoted and passed legislation of a flagrantly racist nature !). For all the leaks about her purportedly independent views, she has been and remains a steadfast member of the Olmert cabinet. For all her efforts (as noted, well-publicized) to shorten the Lebanon campaign, she had supported its launching and has never since voiced regret over her vote. Her "reservations" did not go far enough to motivate her into submitting her resignation and going public against that disastrous war.
Likewise, in recent months, as she witnessed the prime minister torpedoing any demarche towards peace and reconciliation - whether coming from Syria, the Arab League or the Palestinian leadership - she lost no time in falling into step with her boss. Like him, she tediously repeats the inflexible mantras that serve to shoot down any peace initiative. Thereby she takes a heavy burden of responsibility for future calamities. Experience teaches us that the sabotaging of peace efforts constitutes a preface and preparation for war. Should conflict indeed erupt, Livni will bear a considerable portion of the blame.
With her agreeable voice and candid expression, Zippy Livni is a mere fig leaf, a decorative affiche to the war chariot also known as " the government of Israel".
There is nothing new therein. It comes with the territory of the foreign affairs portfolio. Ever since its inception, the foreign ministry has been harnessed to the propaganda needs of the military-political establishment, rendering it a mere chic offshoot of the IDF spokesman's department. Moshe Sharett was aware of the designs of the military establishment and its preparations for the 1956 war, but continued to exercise his great gifts in its defence. Abba Eban stood intellectually head and shoulders above his colleagues in the Golda Meir cabinet, but that did not prevent him from serving as its errand boy and using his equally splendid knack and rhetorical skill in defending its criminal actions.
Zippy Livni has followed the same course, presenting herself as the attractive face of an ugly administration. Not out of mere slavishness. There is no certainty that she would act any differently should she take over the reins of power. After tirelessly reiterating the doctrines of the Olmert cabinet, she appears to have inernalized their basic thrust. Even if she gets a chance to run the shop, we will not get to see any change.
"Zippy" is a sophisticated exercise in window-dressing, and she promises nothing more than any other dummy …
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| By Peretz Kidron (Translated: Peretz Kidron) |
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