Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the panel investigating the Second Lebanon War that she believed during a cabinet vote at the war's outset that she was approving an operation that would last one night. The foreign minister made the comments during her testimony to the Winograd Committee in October, excerpts of which were released Sunday.

"As far as I was concerned, on July 12 we embarked on an operation that was supposed to end that night - or the next afternoon at the latest," Livni told the panel.

The foreign minister said that during the July 12 meeting of the special seven-minister forum that made major decisions during the war, she became convinced that a prolonged military operation was not under discussion.

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Livni said she approached Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the second day of the war, urging him to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis and to begin discussing the possibility of halting the military operation.

"I received a response from the prime minister that I should not worry, that I should calm down," she said.

"It was clear to me from the start that this operation would not end. That is to say, there was no point of military victory," she added.

She said that on July 13, when it became clear to her that there was no end point to the military action, she discussed this issue with Olmert by phone. "I told him that I believed we needed to advance the political agenda," she said.

When Winograd panel member Professor Yehezkel Dror asked Livni she had any proof of this conversation, the foreign minister said that she made a note of it in her notebook, but only afterward.

"My media adviser was with me, and did not hear the conversation. But he was a witness to the fact that it took place, if anyone claims otherwise."

Livni said that she asked for a meeting with Olmert to discuss the issue, but as a date was never set, she used the July 13 meeting of the ministers to pass a message to the prime minister.

"By that meeting I already had a sense that I was being listened to less," she said. "As soon I started to speak, the prime minister began talking to the IDF chief of staff or something like that, so I stopped what I was saying and he said, move on - thank you. I said 'I haven't finished, I am asking you to listen to me.' The prime minister then said 'I am listening to every word and even to every vibration.'"

Livni said that she had a further meeting with Olmert on Sunday, July 16, following a cabinet meeting. No minutes were taken during their conversation and Livni showed the committee the notes she herself had taken.

"It is a little embarrassing as these are the things that I scribbled to myself," she said.

Livni added that she tried to convince Olmert of the need for diplomatic activity, but it was another seven days, on July 23, until she had an opportunity to press the issue further.

"Why didn't you write him a letter?" asked Dror. "I didn't think of that," the foreign minister replied.

Livni also spoke about her objections on July 14 to the bombardment of the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut, a Hebzollah stronghold, saying that, "from a cost perspective, it didn't result in a substantial achievement."

She said that at a July 16 meeting, which to the best of her recollection was attended by the prime minister's diplomatic adviser, Shalom Turgeman and his chief of staff, Yoram Turbowicz, Olmert attacked her for this position.

Livni said that she understood from the first day of the war that it was impossible to realize through military means aims such as the return of the two IDF soldiers snatched by Hezbollah.

"The success of the first night [eradicating the Fajr long-range rockets - B.R.], created a sense that led to an elevation both in the statements and presentation of objectives that was backed by the public."

Other points of tension between Livni and Olmert, according to her testimony, included the proposal to station an international force in southern Lebanon.

"On July 16 I hosted a debate on the issue," she said. "But to my regret, this was leaked and a denial was issued by the Prime Minister's Office, which said that [such a debate] never would take place." She said that when the matter was raised with members of the prime minister's staff, she was told that, "the opinion of the army was needed."

She added that, "initially they said that the army would need a week to present its stance, and then came back to me saying that the army was busy with the war."

She said that only during her July 23 conversation with Olmert did she get a green light for diplomatic activity, which began with a July 24 visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Another outstanding point of friction between Livni and Olmert during the war was her request to attend a United Nations Security Council debate on resolution 1701, in the final days of the conflict.

Olmert "grounded" Livni at that point, preventing her from getting on a plane, an act that caused a great deal of tension between the two. The rest of Livni's testimony on this issue was apparently censored by the Winograd Committee.

Livni stressed, however, that she wanted to go to New York "in order to have my finger on the pulse and not just to have a good time."