Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni distanced herself on Tuesday from comments by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert calling for Israel to give up most of the Arab territories it has occupied since 1967, including east Jerusalem, if it wants peace.In an interview with army radio, Livni, who will lead Olmert's centrist Kadima party into a snap February election, said she was not bound by his policies.
"I am bound by the Kadima platform that I drafted and in which I laid down principles for negotiations with the Palestinians that the whole world can support," said Livni, who is Israel's lead negotiator in the peace talks. "It is possible to conduct the negotiations in my own way without having to arrive at the outcome raised by the outgoing prime minister," Livni said.