Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday will be attending a Quartet Forum meeting being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The meeting comes a year following the Annapolis Conference during which a document of understanding was accepted.

Livni is expected to announce a commitment by Israel to continue adhering to that document, despite a change in government. Perhaps she is confident she will be elected as the next prime minister.

Attending the conference will be UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, European Union Foreign Minister Javier Solana, the foreign ministers of Israel, Egypt and France, and Ahmed Quriea (Abu Ala), who heads the PA (Palestinian Authority) negotiating team.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Israel over the weekend ahead of the conference, meeting with Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, the three contenders in the prime ministerial race. She also met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Rice stressed that although there is no agreement between Israel and the PA; Annapolis is not a failure – stating the lack of an agreement by year’s end does not signal failure, stating she is confident both sides will continue working towards achieving such a reality.

The Quartet is composed of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)