Livni: Gov't has failed in its first 100 days

Opposition chairwoman says Netanyahu has reneged on all election promises, slams his speech on two-state solution was 'height of hutzpah.' Erdan: PM felt obligated by world to speak of two states

Amnon Meranda
Published: 07.06.09, 18:23 / Israel News

Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government Monday, as it marked 100 days in office.

Prime Minister's Speech

Netanyahu utters '2 states' for 1st time / Roni Sofer

Prime minister takes advantage of cabinet meeting to summarize his government's first 100 days, says 'Palestinians will have to recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state, the refugee problem will be solved outside Israel, and the Palestinian territory will be demilitarized'

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Speaking in the Knesset after filing a motion of non-confidence, Livni said: "This could have been a period of hope and new beginnings. That's how it happens in countries across the sea, and that's not how it happens in Israel. Not in this government."

She added that the public was despairing of the coalition and that "the government's failures are exposed to all."

The Opposition leader said Netanyahu had reneged on all of his promises in the fields of politics and economics, and criticized his speech Sunday in which he said that "for the first time we have reached a national agreement on the two states for two peoples concept."

Livni said, "The prime minister's text yesterday was the height of cynicism, if not the height of hutzpah". She explained that "Netanyahu is the man who up until now has been the obstacle to any agreement on this issue."

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan responded to Livni's condemnation by bringing up her support for the Gaza disengagement. "She went and assisted the former prime minister (Ariel Sharon) in uprooting people from their homes in contradiction to the promises made during the elections," he said.

Erdan added that Kadima, the former ruling party, had "from day one blamed us for all the political and economic destruction and ruin that you yourselves had left behind."

He said the prime minister still did not fully believe the two-state solution was "right for Israel", but that he "understands that it is the right thing to say".

"Netanyahu doesn't really believe that two states, Jewish and Palestinian, even demilitarized, are in Israel's best interest," Erdan said. "But the prime minister has encountered the real world, to his surprise, which has unfortunately cast Israel in the role of a dissenter, and he understood at this late stage that he had to talk about two states."

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