Tzipi Livni

Tzipora (Tzipi) Livni (Hebrew: ציפי לבני) is a senior Israeli Politician. Since her election to the Knesset as a member of the Likud party in 2001, she served in numerous government positions. Among others, she was minister of regional cooperation, minister of agriculture and minister of immigration. She serves as Israel's minister of justice since 10th January, 2005. Highly-rated by both right and left-wing Israelis, Livni received the "Quality of Governance" award for the year of 2004.

Livni was born in Tel Aviv on 5th July, 1958. She is the daughter of Eitan Livni, a Polish-born former ETZEL member and himself a Likud member of parliament. She served as a Lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces and worked for the Mossad during the early 1980s. A graduate of Bar Ilan University's Faculty of Law, she has years of experience as a lawyer, specializing in public and commercial law.

Livni was an avid supporter of Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, and was generally considered to be among the key dovish members of the Likud party. She often mediated between hawkish and dovish elements inside the party, and gained publicity for her successful efforts to have the pullout from Gaza ratified by the Knesset.

On November 12th, 2005, she was to become the first member of the Israeli right-wing to speak in the official yearly commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin's assasination

On November 20th, 2005, Livni followed Sharon's departure from the Likud and joined his new party, "Kadima". She is expected to have a prominent place in this new list.

Livni resides in Tel-Aviv. She is married and has two children.