Livni: PR must focus on talks

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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has demanded that her ministry redo its public relations plan for 2008, because the original ignores Israel's negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

However, these talks are the focus of a separate diplomatic action plan that the ministry is currently preparing. The PR plan, which is supposed to guide the work of Israel's embassies and consulates worldwide, puts "branding Israel" as its top priority, followed by combating the delegitimization of Israel and expanding international awareness of Israel's cultural and economic achievements. The talks with the Palestinians were not on the list at all - a fact that Livni found astounding.

She therefore demanded that the plan be revised to include this issue, with particular emphasis on mobilizing support for the negotiations from the international, and especially the American, Jewish community.

The special action plan on the talks, which the ministry is expected to complete in the coming weeks, will be aimed at mobilizing international support for the process while promoting the isolation of extremist Palestinian factions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/945862.html