Last update - 02:00 24/09/2007
Livni wants UN to block terror groups from office
By Barak Ravid
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni plans to launch a diplomatic campaign to convince the world that terrorist organizations should no longer be allowed to field candidates for office in elections.
The campaign, which will open during her visit to the United Nations this week for the 62nd General Assembly, stems from Israel's experience of the Hamas victory in the January 2006 Palestinian Authority elections.
During meetings with international leaders and diplomats, Livni will present criteria that organizations should be required to meet in order to participate in democratic elections. She hopes that her proposal will attract sufficient international support to produce a UN resolution on the matter.
Her ultimate goal is an international agreement on rules governing who will and will not be permitted to participate in democratic elections, and what standards candidates must meet. Among the criteria Livni will propose is preventing organizations with a paramilitary character or that advocate racist ideologies from participating in elections.
Although the program is meant to be applied worldwide, the foreign minister intends to use the example of Hamas - a terrorist organization that came to power through democratic means but then imposed its nondemocratic agenda through the power of the gun - as a selling point.
After Livni inaugurates the campaign, Israel's ambassadors around the world will continue promoting the program in the countries where they serve, while the foreign minister will seek to advance it in various international forums.
Upon arriving in New York yesterday, Livni told Haaretz: "It is a shameful for the UN and the world that [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is coming here [to the General Assembly] and will also give an address at Columbia University."
Livni will participate today in a meeting of donor nations to the Palestinian Authority that will be held at UN headquarters. The conference, chaired by Norway, will also be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, representatives of Arab donor states, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Quartet representative, former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Blair will present the forum with his plans for helping the Palestinians build institutions that would promote economic growth in the territories. Livni will present the steps that Israel intends to take to help the PA.
The foreign minister will also participate in a world forum on climate change, where she will discuss Israel's ability to contribute to the international effort through its technological innovations in developing alternative energy sources.