Livni delays meeting with Peres at last minute

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni delayed her meeting with President Shimon Peres scheduled for Sunday afternoon, at the last minute. Livni was scheduled to arrive at the President's Residence at 2 pm, but postponed her arrival to 5 pm as per the request of Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik.

The meeting was originally scheduled to take place at 5 pm, but was moved up by Peres to 2 pm, possibly due to his desire to meet with all Knesset factions heads by the end of the day.

The president prepared to hold discussions with the Knesset faction leaders in order to examine his options ahead of the opening of the Israeli parliament's winter session on Monday afternoon.

Earlier Sunday, Peres met with Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

One of the main reasons for Livni's failure to form a new government was Shas. Sources at the haredi party said Sunday that they did not regret the moves which caused the coalition negotiations to fail.

"We did what was necessary as far as we are concerned," said a senior party official. "These are not new positions. We have been talking about the child allowances and about the Jerusalem issue for months. If they want to go to elections, we'll go to elections. Shas is committed to its voters and to Israel's disadvantaged population."

Meanwhile Sunday, talks were held in regards to a date for the general elections. A senior government minister told Ynet that it was possible to hold the elections in 111 days in order to give another candidate 21 days to form a form a government, in addition to the 90 days determined by law.

He added, however, that there was a possibility to hold the elections on a different date which would be agreed upon by all parties.

Shas: Extortion claims will backfire on Livni

A senior Shas official told Ynet on Sunday that accusing his party of extortion would "backfire on Tzipi Livni herself".

"We didn't extort anyone. Negotiations were held as customary, but Livni made some difficult mistakes. Unfortunately, the mistakes continue," he clarified.

Senior Shas members made it clear that the disagreement between the two parties, which eventually led to Livni's decisions to call elections, stemmed from wrong moves by Kadima.

"The conduct of Livni and Kadima's negotiation team was inflexible and unwise," one of them said. "Livni didn't understand that she is not in the position of an elected prime minister who has everyone waiting in line to enter the coalition. Even after the negotiations began, we received offers which were not serious.

"For example, they eventually agreed to NIS 950 million (about $247.9) – NIS 650 million for the allowances and NIS 300 for the yeshivot. We told them, we don't want this division. We want NIS 800 million for the allowances and NIS 100 million for the yeshivot, because we are committed to large families. They refused," he added.

According to the official, Livni's associates did not take his party's demands seriously. "We told them, if this is your last offer, Rabbi Yosef and the Council of Torah Sages will not accept it. But they thought we were dragging the negotiations, that this was a gain. It didn't matter to them that we said it won't work. It's a game and Shas had no choice.

"There was no disagreement within Shas. There was agreement. There was no dispute between Ministers (Eli) Yishai and (Ariel) Atias. On the contrary, they both agreed, as did the other two ministers, Yitzhak Cohen and Meshulam Nahari and the Council of Torah Sages, that we cannot sit with Livni in the government under these conditions."

The haredi party is now gearing up for the elections. "There's no way to turn back the clock now. We'll go to elections and see what happens, how much money is spent on this move, on the coalition negotiations with all parties. The costs will be much higher.

"We are committed to our public. This is how we acted and this is how we'll act with any person elected, whether it’s the Likud or Kadima or any other party. Kadima can only blame itself," the Shas official concluded.

'I was faced with impossible demands'

On Sunday morning, during a Kadima ministers' meeting, Livni told her peers, "As I've said after the primaries, I believe in a broad, stable government and I was committed to forming one.

"The last few days have made that task impossible. I was faced with impossible demands and I had to put a stop to it. I was willing to show my respect and allot budgets for goals I could agree with, but when it turned out the coalition talks were used as grounds for illegitimate demands and extortion, I decided to put a stop to it.

"This is what Kadima is all about," she concluded. "A united party that abides by what's right it the party that can win the next election."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chose to open Sunday's cabinet meeting by addressing Livni's decision on an early elections.

"The announcement itself is unfortunate, but she is within her right to make that decision," said Olmert. "The Knesset's winter session will begin tomorrow. It usually starts with the prime minister making a political address, but I have already informed Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik that under the circumstances, I won’t be making any political statements.

"I will be restricting my speech to social and financial issues," Olmert informed his ministers.