Despair and pessimism in Arab press at result

PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas responded to the Israeli election result by saying that he would not resume negotiations on a Palestinian state until Israel halts all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

This is the first time Mr Abbas, who is leader of the Fatah faction based in the West Bank, has posed such a condition, which was laid down by the president’s aide, Rafiq Husseini. He said: “We now have clear conditions for whoever heads the Israeli government.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat observed that if the new Israeli coalition “continues to expand settlements [on land Palestinians demand for their state] . . . and obstruct a two-state solution, we have no option but to consider it a non-partner.”

Fatah, which depends on fruitful negotiations for legitimacy, is concerned that a victory for Israel’s right will strengthen its rival Hamas, which calls for resistance.

Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said Israelis had voted for a “troika of terrorism” – Kadima, Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu – and that they had chosen politicians who are “most extreme in [their] speech” and who “want war with the Palestinians”.

The prospect of a right-wing government is likely to freeze negotiations for a truce in Gaza and the exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in 2006. Hamas-Fatah reconciliation could also be put on hold since neither side will be under pressure to heal their rift.

Arab commentators agreed that it does not matter whether a new coalition is formed by Likud, Kadima or Yisrael Beiteinu because the latter two are off-shoots of the Likud.

Writing in the Arabic daily Al-Hayat, Mustafa Zein observed, "Jabotinsky is the sole winner of the Israeli elections," referring to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the 20th-century ideologue who held that Israel must conquer Palestine, oust its native population and live behind an "Iron Wall".

Al-Hayat's competitor Asharq Alawsatcalled the Israeli elections "a contest between the right and the extreme right" while al-Jazeera International's chief diplomatic correspondent, Marwan Bishara, pointed out that the terms left, right and centre do not apply to Israeli political parties because all but Israel's Arab parties are right-wing.

Nasser Lahham, chief editor of Maan News Agency, based in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, argued that Palestinians, reeling from Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, fear the outcome of Israeli elections will result “only in shedding our blood and destroying our homes”.