ISRAEL: A week before Israelis go to the polls, the victory of the Hamas movement in January's Palestinian election is high on the agenda

Record ID: 398271

  • Title: ISRAEL: A week before Israelis go to the polls, the victory of the Hamas movement in January's Palestinian election is high on the agenda
  • Date: 23rd March 2006
  • Summary: (W2) JERUSALEM (FILE) (REUTERS) LIKUD LEADER BENYAMIN NETANYAHU WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIKUD LEADER BENYAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING: "To have a future of peace for Israel and the Palestinians for our children and theirs Hamas must be stopped, Israel needs defaceable boundaries and the Palestinian people should be told that they must abandon the policies of terror and the
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA9GWTI6GGPJN0J3OV4T63LYPI
  • Story Text: Tel Aviv residents seemed confused and worried on Tuesday (March 21) as they watched a group of young men and women dressed in green shirts, shouting anti-Israeli slogans in Arabic in the Israeli coastal town.
    But as the loud group marched on, holding plastic pistols and wearing mock beards - it was clear it was yet another Israeli election campaign gimmick.
    The protest in Israel's financial and cultural capital was not intended to promote one party over the other.
    Organisers said it was aimed at pointing out the 'dangers' of the future Hamas government which is about to be formed following the movement's landslide victory in the Palestinian elections in January.
    "These elections aren't just elections for whether it is Likud, Marakh, or Kadima or whatever, people say all of them are the same, but there is one difference, after these elections we're going to need a strong leader to fight the Hamas," said Dan Berger, one of the demonstrators.
    A week before Israelis go to the polls in the country's general elections, the victory of the Hamas movement in January's Palestinian election is high on the agenda.
    Election ads show close up pictures of bombings carried out by Palestinian militants and the huge celebrations in Gaza following the Hamas victory.
    In one Likud party ad, Kadima party candidate Ehud Olmert is seen as an ostrich burying its head in the sand, as the militant dangers move closer to Israel.
    In the right wing NRP-National Union party ads, a confused looking man is seen lost in a corridor between the 'evils' of Hamas bombings and the Israeli government's evacuation of Israeli settlements last August.
    "There is a new policy in Israel which we call unilateralism, which means on one side we are doing what is good for Israel, and we don't care, if I may say so, what's going on on the other side. This unilateral policy becomes much much more popular after the winning of Hamas," says Danny Rubinstein, an analyst for the Israeli 'Haaretz' newspaper.
    Kadima party, formed by Ariel Sharon and lead by interim prime minister Ehud Olmert, as well as Labour and Likud parties, say they are all committed to peace with the Palestinians. The three parties, however, reject dealing with Hamas.
    "To have a future of peace for Israel and the Palestinians for our children and theirs Hamas must be stopped, Israel needs defaceable boundaries and the Palestinian people should be told that they must abandon the policies of terror and the liquidation of Israel if they do there will be peace, if they don't we will have to defend ourselves," Benyamin Netanuyahu of the right wing Likud party said.
    Yossi Beilin of the Meretz Party said the victory of Hamas was bad news for everybody.
    "This movement is not ready to recognize Israel and to put an end to terrorism and it is the role of Israel to stick to its national interests which means to put an end to the occupation in the occupied territories despite all what happens," said Beilin.
    Following Hamas' surprising victory, Israeli politicians across the political spectrum expressed their opposition to the movement which carried out hundreds of attacks on Israelis since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in 2000.
    "We have made it clear that without an explicit dissolve of the way of terrorism recognition in the right of the state of Israel to exist in quiet, in security and in peace, and a recognition in all the agreements and the understandings and commitments which the Palestinian Authority has taken upon itself in regard to Israel, including, of course, annulling the Hamas charter which calls for destroying the state of Israel, Israel will not hold any contacts with the Palestinians," Interim Prime Minister Olmert told his cabinet after the Hamas victory.
    Next week's vote could set Israel on a course of go-it-alone moves in the occupied West Bank, a policy championed by Israel even before Hamas' victory.
    Palestinians point to almost a consensus among the three main parties in Israel over the barrier it is building in the West Bank.
    The three top parties have also voiced support for retaining large Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, a move which Palestinians say will deny them the viable state they seek. The International Court of Justice considers settlements illegal. Israel disputes this.
    All parties are united in their stance against Hamas but the right wing parties are using Hamas to pressure Omert and his Kadima party's plan to unilaterally disengage from the conflict and draw a permanent border. They argue that Israel should not give back land to the Palestinians especially under the leadership of Hamas.
    Olmert has threatened unilateral moves to set Israel's permanent borders in the absence of peace negotiations, envisioning a possible pullout from isolated settlements while strengthening enclaves he intends to keep.
    A Hamas leader, and the new speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Aziz Dweik told Reuters he hopes Israel ends its occupation, refusing to comment on the Israeli elections dismissing them as an Israeli affair.
    "In my opinion this is an internal affair for the Israelis as occupiers the Israelis really will affect us by different means we hope that the Israelis will go back to their reason and understand that we are people under occupation and we are freedom seekers, and we would like the whole world to emancipate us from the slavery of occupation," he said.
    The Palestinians oppose any unilateral moves by Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party have been open to negotiations and have repeatedly called on Israel to reach an agreement through negotiations, but the newly elected Hamas leadership has refused to recognise or talk with Israel.
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