Tzipi Livni in her primary role of Foreign Minister. As Foreign Minister, Livni was in charge of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. During these negotiations, she raised the possibility of fixing the future border between Israel and the future Palestinian state so as to place Israeli Arab towns within the Palestinian state, an idea originally suggested by Israeli politician Avigdor Liberman. Her record for pragmatism as foreign minister earned her a high level of respect among US, European, and even Arab diplomatic circles, that has lasted even after she left the post. After the March 2006 Knesset election, she was described as
Tzipi Livni multiple policy disagreements boiled over, and Netanyahu fired Livni along with Finance Minister Yair Lapid from their posts, accusing the two of plotting a "putsch" to overthrow the government. Livni and Lapid had often criticized government decisions, which Netanyahu claimed amounted to an "opposition within the coalition," and made it "impossible to govern." A particular source of frustration for Netanyahu was Livni's control of the powerful ministerial committee on legislation. In December 2014 (after Livni had been dismissed as a cabinet minister), Secretary of State John Kerry told European Union ambassadors that his stance against a unilateral Palestinian measure at