Olmert: Joint statement not a condition for conference
Foreign Minister Livni to head team of negotiations with Palestinians, prime minister announces during weekly cabinet meeting
Olmert also announced that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would head the negotiations team with the Palestinians. This decision appears to be aimed at bringing Livni closer, but Olmert is in fact making sure he will not shoulder part of the responsibility should the negotiations fail.
According to Olmert, "We decided on a balanced, cautious and level-headed process, with the intention of reaching a joint statement during the international meeting. Such a statement, however, was never a condition for the meeting."
The prime minister added that the negotiations with the Palestinians should lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but "without the definition of a timetable".
As for the foreign minister's appointment, Olmert said that he had made the decision following a recommendation by his chief of staff, Yoram Turbowitz. Livni will begin her new role in the coming week as part of the preparations for the Annapolis conference.
Olmert informed Livni of his decision on Saturday evening, on the backdrop of reports on power struggles between her and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the one hand, and Vice Premier Haim Ramon on the other hand.
PM's goals
Olmert's decision is aimed at bringing Livni closer on the backdrop of the Winograd Commission report expected in the coming months, after the foreign minister called on him to resign following the interim report issued by the committee probing the failures of the Second Lebanon War.
The prime minister's second goal is to make sure he will not shoulder part of the responsibility should the negotiations with the Palestinians fail.
The third goal is to take advantage of the Livni-Barak axis after Olmert included his two potential rivals in a small forum for diplomatic and security issues.
Olmert's fourth goal is to take advantage of Livni's good relations with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Rice arrived in Israel on Sunday for meetings with the prime minister, the foreign minister and the defense minister. She is also expected to meet with Ministers Eli Yishai and Avigdor Lieberman.
The two, who are against any gestures to the Palestinians ahead of the Annapolis conference, serve as an internal opposition in the government on the negotiations with the Palestinians. Rice is planning to try and convince them of the essentiality of the current process.
