'Hard to picture.' Livni
Photo: AFP
Livni: Without security, no agreement
Foreign minister gives interview to al-Arabiya, says considering demands for Israel's security will make peace agreement stable
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, during a Tuesday night interview to the Al-Arabiya news agency, emphasized the importance of Israeli security in any political agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.
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"Any deal (with the Palestinians) needs to create increased security for Israel and certainly not harm it. If an agreement does not protect Israeli security, there will not be an agreement," she said.
"It's hard to for me to picture a situation in which the Palestinians would have to give up the idea of a state of their own in order to meet Israeli security demands," she asserted. On the contrary, she said, "acquiescence to Israel's security demands is what will make an agreement stable. (Security) needs to be in the interest of anyone who wants such an agreement."
Regarding the idea of the deployment of Arab forces to Gaza, Livni responded that the idea is "one that was thrown into the air (by Arab states), rather than one that demonstrates a real desire to combat terror."
The foreign minister also muted expectations regarding Syria, calling on Damascus to prove its sincerity regarding negotiations – by cutting ties with terror organizations and Iran - before things proceed.
Implying the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is overeager in his contact with Syrians, Livni, who has expressed reservations about the talks with Syria, said: "I have no need to meet with Syrian representatives in order to know that the international community has prohibited weapons smuggling to Lebanon."
'I'm invested in finding a solution'
According to her, "serious peace means stopping their problematic behavior in Lebanon and their support for Hamas, as well as their relationship with Iran."
"I, like the prime minister, want peace with Syria. But we need to make sure that this peace is feasible, and not generated simply so that Syria will receive legitimacy via negotiations," she added.
Livni's full interview will be screened on Thursday during Ramadan prime-time, by the Saudi Arabia-based news agency.
Earlier Tuesday, Livni met with the US' security coordinator in Israel, General Richard Jones, who is responsible for promoting the implementation of the Road Map. "I'm invested in finding a solution for the problem with the Palestinians. This does not need to come on the account of peace with Syria," Livni told Jones.
