Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won Kadima leadership elections on September 17 and has now been asked by President Shimon Peres to form a government.

Party Chairman: Tzipi Livni

Established: 2005

Current Knesset seats: 28

Official website: www.kadima.org.il (Hebrew and Russian only)

Official Knesset page: Kadima

Currently the Knesset's largest party with 29 seats, Kadima's platform indicates an acceptance of the Roadmap for Peace, the need for territorial compromise and a negotiated agreement to establish an independent Palestinian state. However, the actions of the Israeli government since Kadima came into power suggest intentions to emulate the unilateral approach spearheaded by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Upon coming into office in 2006, current interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert outlined plans to unilaterally redraw Israel's border over the next four years. Accelerated Israeli settlement expansion in the Occupied Territories in the two years since Kadima came into power - especially in and around East Jerusalem, the presumed capital of the future Palestinian state - has led many Palestinians to believe that Kadima intends to dictate Israel's borders unilaterally, annexing substantial parts of the West Bank and maintaining control over Jerusalem.

It has been widely speculated that the border Kadima envisions would roughly follow the route of Israel's separation wall, about 80 percent of which lies on occupied Palestinian land and which consists, in places, of a wall twenty-five feet high, razor wire, trenches, sniper towers, electrified fences, military roads, electronic surveillance, and buffer zones that sometimes reach 100 meters in width. The major settlement blocs, housing roughly 87 percent of Israel's settler population, would be annexed to Israel. The municipal borders of Jerusalem would be redrawn so that many of the city's Palestinian neighborhoods would be transferred to the West Bank. Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be incorporated into Jerusalem or annexed to Israel. This would in effect allow Israel to annex huge swathes of West Bank land and reduce the would-be Palestinian state to no more than a canton.

Key Party Members


Tzipi Livni. Official Knesset Profile. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was elected chairwoman of the Kadima party on September 17, and now faces the task of forming a coalition government. Under the Olmert Administration, Livni led the Israeli team negotiating with the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians have expressed frustration with Livni's unwillingness to discuss certain key issues, such as the rights of Palestinian refugees. Read more.


Avi Dichter. Official Knesset profile. Currently serving as Minister of Public Security, he is the former head of Shin Bet, Israel's general security service. Under Dichter's command, Israel escalated its policy of assassination of Palestinian figures, which led to scores of civilian deaths. A case for war crimes is pending against him in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. Read more.


Gideon Ezra. Official Knesset Profile. Currently serving as Minister of Environmental Protection, he is the former deputy head of Shin Bet, Israel's general security service. As Deputy Minister for Internal Security in 2001, Ezra openly called for the murder of family members of potential Palestinian suicide bombers. He also noted the benefits to Israel of a U.S. war on Iraq: "The more aggressive the attack is, the more it will help Israel against the Palestinians." Read more.

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