BICOM

Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni reportedly met yesterday with Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on the sidelines of the End Sexual Violence in Conflict global summit in London.

According to Walla’s Avi Issacharoff, although Livni’s office would not comment on the meeting, they discussed the breakdown of peace talks at the end of April following the announcement of a Palestinian unity government backed by Hamas. Last month, Livni also met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in London, soon after peace talks with the PA had been suspended in the wake of the unity deal. Livni was criticised on that occasion by a number of politicians, who accused her of ignoring government policy. Yesterday’s meeting with al-Maliki is likely to elicit similar criticism.

Livni and al-Maliki were both attending the End Sexual Violence in Conflict global summit being hosted by Foreign Secretary William Hague and the actress Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. To coincide with the global summit, the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality held a special discussion on the issue. Chair of the committee, Yesh Atid MK MK Aliza Lavie commented that “Only international support will lead to the next stage” in tackling sexual violence. UK Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould also addressed the Knesset committee, saying “As an international community we must send a message to the world that we cannot let this continue.”

Ambassador Gould also co-authored an op-ed on the issue in Yediot Ahronot alongside Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli. Both declared, “We are proud that Britain and Israel” are “joining the global push for action in London this week.” Gould and Refaeli said that in the same way that the world has “come together in the past to ban cluster munitions and chemical warfare. We must now remove sexual violence from the list of acceptable practices in wartime.”