[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: FM Livni is dead wrong about the connection
between the seperation fence and retreat. It wasn't the fence that made
retreat possible, it was the grossly wrong ideologicaly driven "thinking" of
FM Livni and other retreat supporters who absolutely refused to entertain
the possibility that they did not have a monopoly on smarts bolstered by a
mostly retreat supporting press that made the retreat possible. On second
thought, it could very well be that the retreat wasn't made possible by any
of this. Instead it was made possible by the impression that only
retreating would keep AG Mazuz from indicting the Sharon family.]

FM Livni meets with UN Special Representative for Children and Armed
Conflict
(Communicated by the Foreign Minister's Bureau)

After her meeting today (Wednesday, April 18) in Jerusalem with the UN
Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict,
Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign
Affairs Tzipi Livni issued the following statement:

Regarding harming civilians:

"Israeli does its utmost to prevent any harm to civilians and children. The
pain of families on both sides is the same. We do not accept, however, the
comparison between the two sides, nor the comparison of Israeli actions
against the terrorist organizations and the terrorist operations against
Israel."

"The terrorist organizations deliberately target civilians and children,
while IDF troops, in combat against terrorists hiding amongst a civilian
population, go to extreme lengths to prevent any harm to civilians and
children. These are the Israeli principles to which the IDF adheres, and
which sometimes cause us to pay a considerable price."

"Israel expects the world to judge the occurrences according to the same
principles present in every legal system around the world, the principles
that differentiate between intentional murder and unintentional death."

Regarding the security fence:

"The fence was constructed in order to protect the lives of civilians. Every
centimeter was examined by the Israeli courts, whose international
reputation is untarnished. In my opinion, there were several instances where
the court had to lend its weight to security issues while taking into
account the civilian quality of life."

"The fence is the best thing Israel has done to promote the two-state
solution. Personal problems caused by residency in close proximity to the
fence could have arisen even if the fence had been built directly on the
1967 border lines, due to the fact that during the past 40 years a certain
process of amalgamation of villages has occurred."

"Even if the fence does affect the life of anyone residing in close
proximity to it, it still has positive strategic significance in terms of
the two-state solution. Israel and the Palestinians are separated from each
other. The fence was one of the main factors that made the disengagement
possible."