September 3, 2008. Copyright 2008, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Tzipi Livni tipped for IsraelÕs top job
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, September 3, Graphic News:  She is widely regarded as an antidote to the murky, macho world of Israeli politics. But will squeaky clean Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni be able to convince voters in her partyÕs primary that she has the stamina to lead the country when things get dirty.

If Livni, 50, wins upcoming polls for the leadership of Kadima, she will become just the second woman leader in IsraelÕs history and will inherit the monumental task of ending decades of conflict with the Palestinians. Her reputation for honesty has put her ahead in the race to succeed Ehud Olmert, who is mired in a corruption scandal.

LivniÕs closest rival is Shaul Mofaz, transport minister and former defence chief of staff who peppers his speeches with allusions to LivniÕs ÒweaknessÓ, seen by many as a reference to the fact that she is a rare woman in a mileau dominated by men.
 
For many, however, LivniÕs credibility is all the stronger because she began life as the daughter of Zionist Irgun guerrillas: her father Eitan was a chief of operations and her mother was a foot soldier in the militant movement that fought for a Greater Israel. Today Livni is committed to the ideal of a smaller, Jewish democracy coexisting with a Palestinian state, but she insists on an end to terror attacks as a precondition for this.

Famously private, especially about life with husband Naftali Shpitzer, an advertising executive, and their two sons, she is a straight talker averse to backroom politics. 

After law school she spent four years with the Israeli secret services Mossad. It is not known whether in Paris she helped to hunt terrorists or merely rented a flat to provide a cover, but her association with the famously efficient agency has done her no harm.

In 1999 Livni was elected to the Knesset and became an acolyte of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- in 2005 she left Likud to join his new, centrist Kadima party. Cabinet portfolios have included regional development, justice, housing and construction, and foreign affairs, in which she has won praise for her negotiations with the Palestinians.

But she drew criticism when in May 2007 she called for OlmertÕs resignation after the Winograd report blasted his handling of the 2006 war with Lebanon. He stayed and some queried how she survived. Critics claim she has been handed all her chances by Sharon and is too inexperienced to take the tough decisions that go with the territory.

However, even those worried about her plans to concede parts of the West Bank to the Palestinians know that Livni will be tough when it comes to Syria and Iran -- and thatÕs where many Israeli minds are increasingly focused.
/ENDS