Foreign minister tells London audience Syria disrupted attempts to release kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, interfered with efforts to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Livni urges Arab moderates to cooperate with Israel
Syria
has disrupted efforts to free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit captured by Hamas and interfered in attempts to defuse Israel's ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, Israel's foreign minister said Monday.
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Syria has also caused trouble within the Palestinian Authority, Tzipi Livni alleged. Whenever Hamas showed signs of cooperation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Syria sent messages saying "don't do it," she said.
"It is not even about a Syrian interest," Livni told an audience at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "They want to dictate the Palestinian conflict."
"We heard the first abducted soldier was being held ... in Hamas hands and whenever there was a kind of chance to release him, the order came from Syria saying not to release him," she added.
'Democracy is about values'
Livni said Israel had lost a year of negotiations with the Palestinians after a Hamas victory in January's Palestinian legislative elections led to international sanctions and a divided and ineffectual government. She said Hamas should not have been allowed to take part in the elections because they sponsor terrorism.
"Democracy is not about voting but about values," she said. "There is a need to demand, any party, as part of the democratic system, to adopt the values of democracy before participating in elections. This is part of any democratic system in the world except in the Middle East."
Livni said she still believed in a two-state solution, and urged Palestinian moderates who share common ground with Israelis to work with them.
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