Last update - 00:00 01/05/2007
Livni keeping her distance from Olmert in wake of Winograd report
By Mazal Mualem and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents
True to her strategy, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni kept her distance from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during Monday's Kadima ministers meeting, both in her words and body language.
Livni no doubt understands that she is about to embark on the test that determines her leadership ability. She did not back Olmert in any way, and in her meticulously-planned comments she pointed out that she does not intend to play the personal or political game.
"There was an attempt to drag me onto the political and personal field, but I don't intend to play on that field," she said. "This is not a personal issue between me and the prime minister but rather the country's future. This is big and important."
Either Tuesday or Wednesday on Livni will no longer be able to avoid direct contact with the media. She asked for time to study the report, but it is clear to her that as the designated heir to Olmert among the public and in Kadima she must soon answer the question of whether Olmert should resign.
Livni is aware that her popularity is based on her image as responsible, matter-of-fact and corruption-free. She understands that she will have to prove that silence and a clear evasion of statements is not her ideology.
On Monday, she was already forced into a semi-clash with the prime minister, when she read in national newspaper Maariv that Olmert would be happy to be rid of her. Her aides clarified that she is not planning to oust the prime minister. That was before the report was published and was unexpectedly severe.
According to a senior Kadima official, "If Livni wants us behind her, she has to come out and lead the opposition to Olmert. There isn't a lot of time. Kadima officials who have spoken with Livni believe she would rather see Olmert fall without getting her feet wet."
Livni, who has been designated as Olmert's heir by Coalition Chairman Avigdor Yitzhaki and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, could find herself in an internal battle versus another potential heir: Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who could emerge as a compromise candidate should Olmert resign in the coming months. Peres, however, backed Olmert during the Kadima ministers meeting.
"New elections would send a message to the Arab world that we are falling apart and will bring us to an unprecedented low," he said. "We have collective responsibility. This is not an issue of only the prime minister. Kadima won a majority in order to govern and correct failures."
Both Peres and Livni were hardly criticized in the Winograd report. The committee made thorough use of their testimonies and statements during government meetings to strengthen their conclusions regarding the failures of the prime minister and defense minister.
Peres is described in the report as the most experienced minister, and the one who presented from the war's outset the "wider context of the operation." The committee stressed that Peres called the proposed response "short-sighted, standard, and very predictable," and said Israel must "respond in a creative manner, without overestimating our strength."
The committee also wrote that during government meetings, then chief of staff Dan Halutz "degraded Peres, with all his experience, who asked the questions."
Livni, meanwhile is praised for seeking a diplomatic exit strategy from the first days of the war. The panel added that in the first government meeting the foreign minister "explicitly added the diplomatic goal - complete implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559."