By Qi Xianghui, Xinhua,
Jerusalem : Final results released Thursday by Isarel’s ruling Kadima party showed that Foreign Minister TzipiLivni won the party’s primary and would become its new leader.
Should she manage to form a new government in the coming weeks, she will become the second female premier in Israel after Golda Meir in the 1970s.
Livni was born in 1958 in Tel Aviv to a family of prominent members of Irgun, a radical Jewish underground movement during the British mandate period. After her two-year military service in theIsrael Defence Forces (IDF), Livni worked for Mossad (the Israeli intelligence agency) for two years in Paris before returning to Israel. After that, she get married and started her career as a lawyer.
As a graduate of Bar Ilan University’s Faculty of Law, she has 10 years of experience as a practicing lawyer, specializing in public and commercial law.
She was first elected to the Knesset (Israeli parliment) in 1999 as a member of the right-wing Likud party. Two years later, she was appointed the minister of regional cooperation by then-Premier Ariel Sharon and thereafter held various Cabinet positions. In 2005, she followed Sharon out of Likud when the latter established the Kadima party.
Following Kadima’s victory in the 2006 general elections, Livnitook the post of foreign minister and vice premier. After the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference, which was held in November 2007, Livni was charged with the task of leading Israel’s negotiating teams in talks with Palestinians on ending decades of conflicts between the two sides.
Last week, she pledged to work on forging a final-status agreement with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) if she wins the primary.
Livni, a mother of two, is the second women in Israel to hold the post of foreign minister after Golda Meir and was described as “the second most powerful politician in Israel.”
In 2007, she was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World, and Forbes ranked her the 52nd most powerful woman in the world.
Although Livni was criticized by some male politicians as lack of security and military experience, the new party leader has never commented about the gender issue and even didn’t agree to be interviewed on the subject.
Comparing to her predecessor, scandal-ridden Ehud Olmert, Livniis also widely acknowledged by the public on her clean-hand image. Her reputation for honesty is an outstanding merit to attract the public.
She has enjoyed her lead in most of the polls conducted throughout the leadership race and was considered by many Israelis to be the only candidate who can put together a coalition government and spare the Israeli public from early elections.