Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni does not intend to battle Prime Minister Ehud Olmert openly, although tensions between the two leaders were ratcheted up following Livni's lack of public support for Olmert at the Kadima council convention last Thursday.

Sources close to Livni say she has decided to avoid smear tactics and intends to continue saying what is on her mind without hypocrisy. As part of this policy, she will not criticize Olmert publicly, but neither will she express open support. Instead, in forthcoming Kadima conventions, Livni will transmit a message of unity and the importance of the party platform, as she did in her speech Thursday.

Sources close to Olmert say he too wants to maintain a quiet front, although it is clear that the front will heat up in the near future, possibly on release of the interim report of the Winograd Committee (if it contains harsh findings on Olmert) and the beginning of an open battle for succession against the prime minister. The sources also say quotes attributed to Olmert's associates that Livni is subverting him are not the prime minister's opinion.

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They say they had no objections to Livni's speech. Livni has said in the past she sees herself as prepared for and suited to the task of prime minister, and she is getting ready to run for the leadership of Kadima. However, Livni does not want to seem subversive, which would harm her clean public image.

Olmert is also not interested in a high-profile tussle with Livni that could hurt him, especially in light of the great support for Livni seen in all the polls, particularly when compared with Olmert. In fact, the relationship between the two leaders for months has been one of built-in tension, a kind of cold war.