Tzipi Livni

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on January 25th, 2011

Here's an unintended consequence of Al Jazeera's release of The Palestine Papers: Israeli media are reporting today (in Hebrew) that Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has invited Tzipi Livni, the head of the Kadima party, to a coalition meeting.

The invitation came in response to our story yesterday about Livni's proposal (made while she was foreign minister) to "transfer" Arab Israeli villages into a future Palestinian state. It's reminiscent of a similar plan proposed by Lieberman several years back.

So Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party invited Livni to present her views at a meeting.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on January 24th, 2011

We've just posted the second batch of stories and documents from The Palestine Papers, Al Jazeera's months-long investigation into thousands of confidential documents from Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Our coverage today hits on a few main themes:

Population "swaps." Israeli negotiators, including foreign minister Tzipi Livni, proposed a plan to transfer several Arab Israeli villages - including Baqa al-Gharbiyya and Barta'a - a future Palestinian state. The proposal is reminiscent of the "Lieberman plan," the proposal named after Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman that's been denounced as racist by many left-wing Israeli commentators.

By Laila Al-Arian in Middle East on January 24th, 2011
Photo by EPA

Al Jazeera’s release on Sunday of the Palestine Papers, a trove of documents related to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, has led to reaction throughout the world.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has gone on the offensive, with President Mahmoud Abbas calling the release “shameful,” and his adviser Yasser Abed Rabbo accusing Al Jazeera of launching a "smear campaign".

Former Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said "many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership".

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the documents reveal the PA's "close collaboration with [Israel], and reflects its role in trying to kill off the Palestinian cause".

On the Israeli side,

By Ayman Mohyeldin in Middle East on December 15th, 2009
Picture by EPA

It's one of those stories that comes out of nowhere and few actually know what happened.

It began when Al Jazeera reported that a British court had issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister and Gaza war architect Tzipi Livni.

For hours, Israeli and British officials denied the report. Then British and Israeli media got wind of the story and began to report it. By the end of Monday, it was irrefutable. 

Livni had cancelled a speaking engagement at the Jewish National Fund in the UK, but why and when were there still unanswered questions? 

After a British court issued - then withdrew - the arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, the Israeli government, after first denying the reports - suddenly shifted gears, going into damage control and launching a scathing criticism of the British government.

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