Livni declines to say whether she supports dividing J'lem

At a community gathering at Holon Theatre on Saturday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni refused to answer whether she would support relinquishing parts of Jerusalem in the framework of a future settlement with the Palestinians.

"My parents' friends demand that I promise to say there won't be a Palestinian state and that I promise to fight and prevent its establishment, but I'm not saying it," Livni said.

Participants in the forum included Likud coalition chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar as well as former journalist Shelly Yachimovich, who is running for a Knesset seat as a member of the Labor Party.

Yachimovich criticized the economic policies of former finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that many journalists in Israel are working in adverse conditions.

"They earn peanuts and they fear for their destinies on a daily basis," she said. "Working in such substandard conditions, they can't be courageous journalists."

"I benefited from Netanyahu's economic policy," Yachimovich said. "But, while I benefited, more and more people went to the garbage bins."

In reference to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party, Yachimovich added: "I can't oppose this party because I don't know what its positions are."

"Sharon carried out the disengagement, but I don't understand his decision and his motives for reaching the decision because he hasn't explained where the turnabout (in his views) began," she said. "Sharon is corrupt, even if he wasn't convicted in court. Public corruption exists and we mustn't be blind."

Livni said that a future coalition headed by Kadima will not negotiate on the issue of Palestinian refugees, calling it one of the party's fundamental principles. The justice minister added that "there will not arise a terror state in the West Bank."