RAMALLAH: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the ruling Kadima party, yesterday said she will call for snap elections if a government coalition agreement is not reached by Sunday.
“Decision time has come,” she said in what was seen as an ultimatum to parties Kadima accuses of playing hardball in coalition negotiations.
“I have just spoken with the president to tell him I will meet him on Sunday to announce my decision: Either we form a new government or we go to new elections,” Livni told journalists following talks with members of the centrist Kadima.
President Shimon Peres had asked Livni on Sept. 22 to form a new government after she was elected to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as Kadima leader. Olmert resigned last month to battle a wave of graft allegations, and police have called for him to be indicted on corruption charges.
“I have considered it my duty to try to form a new government, particularly now, in order to favor stability, and I believe it is still what is preferable for the country,” said Livni, 50.
“I have had negotiations with all possible partners with a view to forming a stable government by suggesting to all partners the creation of a true partnership,” she added.
Livni has signaled in the past that she would not cave in to Shas’ demands and even prefer to head a narrow coalition so as to avoid a coalition stifled by the religious, Sephardi-orientated party. But Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, who lost the Kadima primary to Livni by a narrow margin, said he would not agree to a narrow coalition.
Bodies of Israeli cop, family found
Meanwhile, Israeli police said that the bodies of a child, a baby and their parents, both police officers, were found yesterday morning in an apartment in central Israel.
A preliminary police investigation suggested that the father, a ranking officer in the Israeli police, killed his wife, also a policewoman, and their children and then committed suicide in their house in Hod Hasharon city.
Israeli sources said that the man’s colleagues arrived at his home at around 10.20 a.m., after he had failed to answer the phone. They spotted the couple’s two cars inside the garage.
The house’s door was locked. They entered the apartment through the balcony and were met with a horrific sight.
According to the sources, in the house’s living room, which is adjacent to the dining room, they found a dead three-year-old child. His father’s body was lying next to him, and the mother was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. A gun was found between the bodies.
The officers then entered the parents’ bedroom, where they found a two-month-old baby girl, also dead. The living room was covered with bloodstains.
