OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 8 February — Ariel Sharon laid claim to all of Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal capital” yesterday as Palestinians responded defiantly to the triumph of a man reviled as a war criminal across the Arab world.
Sharon, in a speech after his crushing defeat of Ehud Barak in Tuesday’s prime ministerial poll, urged Palestinians to end their four-month-old uprising and negotiate a “realistic peace”.
But the Arab media denounced him as a war criminal, terrorist and racist in an outpouring of fiery rhetoric likely to reinforce world concern about the fate of Middle East peace.
Sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Middle East war, and Al-Haram Al-Sharif is a key obstacle to an elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and their uprising over Israeli occupation erupted after Sharon visited the Old City sanctuary on Sept. 28.
In new violence, Israeli troops and Palestinians traded fire amid clashes with stone-throwing youths in the divided West Bank city of Hebron. No casualties were reported.
While Palestinian officials expressed dismay at the election of Israel’s arch-hawk, an aide to Sharon told reporters President Yasser Arafat had written to the prime minister-elect congratulating him on his election win and offering peace talks.
“Our hands will continue to be held out to make peace because both sides expect it,” Eyal Arad, Sharon’s security adviser, quoted the note as saying. Palestinian officials did not confirm or deny that Arafat had sent such a message to a man who refuses to shake his hand.
A very different signal came from Arafat’s Fatah movement, which vowed to intensify the intifada to face the “killer Sharon” and said Israel could have peace and security only by ending its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “If the Israelis think that Sharon will make security for them, we say loudly that Israel will never have security at all,” Fatah’s West Bank leadership said in a statement.
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt said he would wait and see how Sharon acted. “Will it be a policy of peace or suppression?”
A source close to Sharon said he will send an envoy to Amman for talks with Jordanian officials, in his first contacts with the Arab world since being elected. The source said Sharon’s adviser on the Arab world, Majali Wahabi, would head to the Jordanian capital today to meet officials for talks on “the diplomatic situation.” Israel Radio reported Wahabi, a Druze Arab, was expected to visit Egypt and Gulf countries in the next few days. Earlier in the day, Jordan said it will judge Sharon by his actions.
Lebanon urged the world to head off any Israeli “adventure” that could plunge the Middle East into fresh turmoil. “The results of the Israeli elections reflect a choice among Israeli voters that does not serve comprehensive and just peace in the region,” President Emile Lahoud said in a statement.
US President George W. Bush urged calm, saying the United States would work to promote stability in the Middle East and wanted to give Sharon a chance to promote peace. Bush said he and Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken to several leaders in the Middle East and urged calm in the wake of the Israeli election.
