Livni: Despite Jordan ties, Israel will act according its own interests

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Regarding reports surfacing Thursday that Jordan's King Abdullah II had urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minster Ehud Barak not to embark on a wide-scale IDF operation in Gaza during a secret meeting in Amman, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that despite strategic ties with Jordan, Israel would continue to act according to its own interests. "Israel does indeed have strategic ties with its neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, and listens to their needs, but the bottom line remains that the country acts according to the interests of the Israeli citizen," she said on a visit to the Tefen Industrial Park. Regarding the Saudi peace initiative, Livni said that the Arab world understood that negotiations were not conducted by bringing the plan to the table with an "all or nothing," attitude, but by continuing peace talks. "Israel has interests which are incompatible with the Arab peace initiative, including the issues of borders, east Jerusalem and refugees," she said. "These [issues] are presented in the plan in a way that I find unacceptable."