In Response to the Unexpected Surge of Moderate Parties in Israel's Election, an Abbas-backed Committee Reassures Israelis That the Palestinians are a Partner for Peace
January 23, 2013
AP -
Palestinian officials said Wednesday they were pleasantly
surprised by the unexpected surge of moderate parties in Israel's
election, but doubt it's enough to change the prime minister's hard-line
policies.
Negotiations on a Palestinian state have been frozen
under Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects Palestinian demands for halting
building in Jewish settlements. Palestinians argue that construction for
Jews in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, war-won territories they want
for their state, pre-empts the outcome of negotiations.
Netanyahu
is likely to retain his job after Tuesday's vote, but he suffered a
blow when his Likud-Yisrael Beitenu bloc and other parties in the
hawkish camp lost seats to center-left factions, creating a 60-60 tie in
the 120-member parliament.
As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu is expected to get the
first chance to form a coalition, but in almost any scenario will have
to include Yesh Atid, the new centrist party of former TV anchor Yair
Lapid.
Palestinians noted with concern Wednesday that Lapid wants Israel to keep east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital.
"I
am not going to say that now the chances of peace are going to be
drastically improved or that we are going to see a sort of left-wing
coalition and a peace camp that will take over and produce instant
peace," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official with the Palestine Liberation
Organization, told reporters Wednesday. "You are not going to have a
savior, suddenly producing instant peace."
A day after the Israeli
vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was withholding comment, and
his aides said they were studying the political fallout.
One
adviser said there was some hope that a politically weakened Netanyahu
would become more vulnerable to international pressure, particularly
from the U.S., to halt settlement building.
Others argued that a
more moderate coalition would simply be a fig leaf for Netanyahu's
policies, said the adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations with reporters.
In
response to the outcome, an Abbas-backed committee in charge of
reaching out to the Israeli public prepared a new appeal, said an
activist involved in the effort. The committee of officials from the PLO
and Abbas' Fatah movement was set up in December.
In coming days,
the committee will send a public letter to the new Israeli legislators
and the Israeli media, reassuring Israelis that the Palestinians are a
partner for peace and that a peace deal is in the interest of both
sides, said the activist, who spoke on condition because Abbas has not
yet signed off on the text.
Opinion polls in Israel have indicated
a majority for a partition deal. At the same time, many Israelis fear
the Palestinians would not hold up their end in such an agreement, in
part because the Islamic militant Hamas remains in control of Gaza.
Hamas seized the territory in 2007, two years after Israel withdrew,
turning it into a launching pad for rocket attacks on Israel.
Also
Wednesday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a woman near the West Bank
town of Hebron, said Kamil Hmaid, the Palestinian governor of the Hebron
district. The Israeli military said soldiers were attacked with
firebombs and fired back.
The 22-year-old woman was driving in a
car when she was shot, and Hmaid said two others were injured. He denied
that the car's passengers threw firebombs.
The military acknowledged that Palestinians were injured but did not confirm the woman's death.
Also
Wednesday, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy died of his wounds after being
shot to the head in a skirmish with Israeli soldiers on Friday.
The usually quiet West Bank has seen an increase in deadly violence in recent weeks.
