ISRAEL-ELECTION/LEBANON REACTIONS Beirut residents say "nothing will change" following Netanyahu win

Record ID: 399341

  • Title: ISRAEL-ELECTION/LEBANON REACTIONS Beirut residents say "nothing will change" following Netanyahu win
  • Date: 18th March 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MAN SITTING ON STAND IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN REFUGEE, MOUSSA DIRAWI, SAYING: "Jews are known in history for their criminality against the Palestinian people. If Netanyahu or Herzog wins, politics is the same, it won't change anything." VARIOUS OF CAMP STREETS TRAFFIC IN HAMRA STREET DRIVING PAST NEWSPAPER KIOSK VARIOUS OF LOCAL NEWSPAPER DAILY
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3W7AQBBO4PCX0BDDNJIP280ZZ
  • Story Text: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday (March 18), that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent win in the country's elections will not change any of the policies towards the Middle East or towards Palestinians.
    Netanyahu won a come-from-behind victory in Israel's election after tacking hard to the right in the final days of campaigning, including abandoning a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state.
    ''Netanyahu or another, for us, every Israeli is an enemy. That is why, what is important is for us to be united first of all as a Palestinian people and whoever comes, so be it,'' said one elderly refugee, Abu Iyad, in Beirut's Burj al Barajneh camp.
    With 99.5 percent of votes counted on Wednesday, Likud had won 29-30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, comfortably defeating the centre-left Zionist Union opposition on 24 seats, Israel's Central Election Committee and Israeli media said.
    A united list of Arab parties came in third.
    It amounted to a dramatic and unexpected victory - the last opinion polls published four days before the vote had shown the Zionist Union with a four-seat advantage.
    ''Whether it was Netanyahu or Herzog, the politics is the same, it won't change anything,'' said another refugee from Burj al Barajneh, Moussa Dirawi, referring to Netanyahu's election rival Isaac Herzog, the leader of the Zionist Union, who conceded defeat, saying he had called Netanyahu to congratulate him.
    Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel that collapsed in April, said in a statement that Netanyahu's win showed "the success of a campaign based on settlements, racism, apartheid and the denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people".
    In Beirut, some Lebanese residents warned Netanyahu's re-election could mean more difficult times for the Arab region.
    "I think nothing will change, Israel's foreign policy is the same towards Arabs and towards all the free world in the end," said Anis Slim.
    "Netanyahu's plans more suppression of the Palestinians, ignoring their rights, and the continuing the settlement policy. And all this is due to the Arab state of confusion, the absence of the Arab vision, internal conflicts, and giving priority to the the survival of the regimes and protecting of the ruling classes' interests over national interests, and therefore, the win of Netanyahu forecasts a difficult phase in the future," said Abdel Hadi Mahzouz, a Beirut resident.
    Netanyahu's victory will prolong the country's troubled relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama.
    The White House was already angry with him for addressing the U.S. Congress at the invitation of Republican lawmakers in a bid to scupper U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, before Netanyahu's hard tack to the right in the campaign's final days.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register