In politics, as in life, virtue is not always rewarded. So it's cheering to see Tzipi Livni, the newly elected leader of Israel's moderate Kadima party, get a modest boost in the opinion polls for doing the right thing.
Livni was elected Kadima leader Sept. 17, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he was stepping down as the party's leader amid corruption allegations. Since then, Livni has been trying to cobble together a coalition to keep the government going, with her as prime minister. Kadima is the most popular party but has just 29 seats in the 120-seat Knesset or parliament. It needs partners to govern, such as Ehud Barak's Labour party and the religious Shas party.
The hard-dealing Shas leaders did manage to extract an offer from Livni to boost child support for large families, their constituency.
But Shas then overplayed its hand by demanding that Livni rule out sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians. That would have severely curtailed the ability of Israel's 5.5 million Jews to negotiate a deal to live in harmony with nearly 8 million Palestinians living in Israel itself, in the West Bank and Gaza, and in neighbouring states.
To her credit, Livni said No, and she asked President Shimon Peres to call a new election, expected early next year. Until then, Olmert will stay on as caretaker prime minister and Livni will remain foreign minister. Though few Israelis relish months of political uncertainty, there seems to be support for Livni's approach. While opinion is fickle, polls show Kadima pulling slightly ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line Likud party, which refuses any concession on Jerusalem and which had been ahead in the polls.
Given the turmoil in Israeli politics, U.S. President George W. Bush now seems fated to leave office in January without the peace pact he had hoped to broker. That may be for Barack Obama or John McCain to attempt. The best Olmert and Livni might accomplish is to sketch out the broad outlines of a future deal that would trade land for peace.
Still, Livni's principled decision to rebuff small-party extortion preserves Israel's options and keeps hope alive. Her defence of the nation's broader interest affirms her fitness for high office.source
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