OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 30 January 2003 — After 28 months of Palestinian intifada and with a war in Iraq looming over the region, Israel slid further to the right yesterday after the hard-line Likud party of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swept to a new election victory.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he was willing to meet Sharon immediately and to return to negotiations. "Tonight!" Arafat told Israel’s Channel Ten television in an interview when asked if he would sit down with Sharon following his victory in Tuesday’s election. "We insist on returning to negotiations as soon as possible."
Arafat also said, in response to a question, that he was willing to call for a general truce.
A Sharon spokesman said the right-wing leader would meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his first meeting with an Arab leader since coming to power almost two years ago.
Sharon’s victory was tempered by the difficulties he faces in building a stable coalition with centrist parties, after Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna reiterated his refusal to join a government led by Sharon.
According to the initial count, Sharon’s Likud party landed a whopping 37 seats in Israel’s 120-member Parliament, but a figure well short of a majority. So Sharon will have to enlist the support of the centrist Shinui party, which also made major gains, and other smaller groups if he is to avoid relying on a hard-line alliance of ultra-Orthodox or far-right parties.
Binding himself to the far right, which wants no concessions to the Palestinians, would anger Israel’s key ally the United States. Washington is expected to pressure Sharon to tackle the crisis once it has wound up its anticipated showdown with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The elections marked a major setback for the Israeli peace camp. The center-left Labour took only 19 seats, down from 25. That was the worst result in its history.
Other smaller left-wing groups also fared badly, as the conflict-seared country turned again to Sharon who has fought in all the Jewish state’s wars since its founding in 1948.
The head of the left-wing Meretz party, Yossi Sarid, announced his resignation after his part scraped only six seats, down from 10.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the result a "defeat of the peace camp" but said he would stick to an internationally backed plan to form a Palestinian state by 2005.
Palestinian leaders greeted the poll outcome with dismay. Some said the convincing win could tempt Sharon to reoccupy the Gaza Strip as it has done the West Bank since June.
Palestinian leaders, both within Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and in hard-line groups like Hamas, warned that the election heralded renewed violence in the occupied territories.
But Egypt’s Mubarak, who has tried to carve out a role as intermediary in the conflict despite tensions with Sharon, quickly congratulated him and propose a first meeting once he has formed a government, Israeli officials said.
"We have to deal with the Israeli prime minister in a new way" in order to relaunch the Mideast peace process, Mubarak told Al-Ittihad newspaper in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
As the uphill task of coalition horse-trading kicked off in Israel, the death toll among Palestinians continued to rise.
A Palestinian teenager was killed in the Gaza town of Jabaliya when Israeli forces bulldozing orchards close to the border with Israeli opened fire. (Agencies)
