|
|
| By israelinsider staff June 3, 2007 |
|
| |
 Bookmark to del.icio.us |
| |
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni expected that last summer's confrontation with Hezbollah would last only a day, according to her October testimony to the Winograd Committee, which was released Sunday.
"On the 12th of July, I thought it was an operation, which was supposed to end that same night - at most the next afternoon," stated Livni, referring to the day Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid that prompted the 34-day war.
Livni also claimed that she had urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to find a diplomatic solution at the beginning of the conflict.
According to Livni, however, the prime minister told her that she should "not worry" and "calm down."
"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.
Livni described many times throughout her testimony that she tried to promote a diplomatic path, but that she was ignored.
"The military operation cannot return the soldiers. It can pulverize Hezbollah, but at a certain point there won't be high-quality targets and there will be no hope for the operation," the foreign minister told the committee.
"Therefore the timing is crucial, right now the operation is a military one, but its end will be a diplomatic one."
Livni cited attempts to speak with Olmert about her opinions of the war, but expressed her frustration at not being listened to at one meeting of the ministers on July 13.
"By that meeting I already had a sense that I was being listened to less," said Livni. "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.'"
Tensions rose between Livni and Olmert throughout the war, the foreign minister said.
According to Livni, she and the prime minister clashed on her proposal to place an international force in southern Lebanon.
"On July 16 I hosted a debate on the issue. 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 said that the prime minister's staff initially 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."
Livni said that Olmert did not approve the beginning of the diplomatic process until July 23. Livni met on July 24 with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Livni and Olmert also clashed when the prime minister prevented Livni from attending a United Nations Security Council debate on resolution 1701 during the end of the conflict. |
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
