Posted on 03/28/2006 2:55:28 PM PST by Conservative Coulter Fan
Palestinian leaders on Tuesday reiterated their opposition to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to unilaterally withdraw from some areas in the West Bank, warning that such a move would complicate the problem and increase tensions in the region.
However, several officials in Ramallah expressed satisfaction with the results of Tuesday's election in Israel, especially the fact that the Likud Party had lost much of its power. "We're happy to see that [Binyamin] Netanyahu has suffered a humiliating defeat," a top official told The Jerusalem Post. "We hope that Kadima and Labor will join forces to advance the peace process and end the conflict."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas criticized Olmert's plan as "very dangerous" and warned that it could lead to chaos in the region. "This unilateral plan will only escalate the conflict and will never bring peace," he said, expressing hope that the new Israeli government would work toward reviving the peace process.
"There can be no future for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples without peace. I'm prepared to discuss with the new government ways of implementing the road map plan for peace."
In response to the results of the election, Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh also voiced opposition to Olmert's plan and warned that unilateral moves would only escalate tensions.
Haniyeh, who was speaking hours after his cabinet won the confidence of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said he was prepared to hold talks with the US Administration about reaching a just peace in the Middle East. He also urged the international community to exert pressure on Israel to halt its measures against the Palestinians and the construction of settlements and the security fence.
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians, including Hamas, respect the choice of the Israeli people. "We hope the new government would opt for peace," he said.
Many Palestinians said they did not see any difference between the major parties in Israel. "There's no difference between Olmert and the other candidates," said political analyst Osama Hamdan. "Most Palestinians believe that all the candidates are bad for them."
Incoming Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said he saw no difference between the Israeli parties since "all have committed crimes against the Palestinian people."
He added: "All the parties are responsible for our suffering and the crimes that have been committed against our people." Zahar, too, warned that unilateral steps in the West Bank would aggravate tensions.
Fatah legislator Muhammed Dahlan expressed hope that the new Israeli government would end the occupation of Palestinian territories. "The important issue for us is to see a government that recognizes the Palestinian people's rights and works toward ending the occupation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said.
The election was held as Arab leaders opened their annual summit in Sudan with generous praise for January's Palestinian elections and denunciations of Israel and the West for threatening to cut off aid in response to the landslide victory of Hamas.
"We say no to robbing the Palestinian people of their democratic choice, no to punishing the Palestinian people for exercising their right to choose who rules, and no to succumbing to Israel's violations of all the promises it made," Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the summit's host, said emphatically, winning a round of applause from the audience of heads of state and delegates.
"We call on the international community to respect this people and their choices which came through free and transparent elections praised by international observers," said al-Bashir.
He also called on the international community to push Israel to respond to international resolutions and stop "state terrorism" against the Palestinians.
I was really hoping Likud would come in second so we would get center leaning right and have a better chance at peace without giving up too much.
bttt
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
And we thought apeasement was dead. Sure is not in Israel. Too bad Bibi did not do well. You would think with the Hamas victory, Israel would have had more backbone at this critical juncture. But, like America they are becoming placid to their enemies.But it is a Democracy and the people have spoken.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Olmert, the father of deserters and traitors is going to abandon the West Bank to Hamas and divide Jerusalem...he's another moser and he may very well meet the fate of other PMs who retreated.
And Hamas rejoices, too.
Israeli voters have voted for national suicide under the lie of Land for Peace, and Unilateral head in the sand Disengagement.
Appeasement? This is just plain surrender!
"Olmert, the father of deserters and traitors is going to abandon the West Bank to Hamas and divide Jerusalem...he's another moser and he may very well meet the fate of other PMs who retreated."
Do you really think its possible that they would give up part of Jerusalem? Especially now with Hamas being elected... who would they give it up to? - They don't even have relations with Hamas.
Palestinians:
"YES! The only party with balls enough to stand up to us is devastated! WOOOOOO! BREAK OUT THE ROCKETS!"
Well, as if we needed more affirmation that something terrible happened today...
It feels like Free Republic after Hillary wins in '08.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I must be missing something. Palestinians claim to want the West Bank as their own, exclusively. The first sentences of this article say that is what the PM-elect wants to give them. And the Palestinians are still unhappy? Excuse my ignorance. What logical link am I missing?
Olmert has pledged to unilaterally withdraw...so the my answer to your question is....absolutely!
They want all of Israel period. The Israelis are doing their best to give it to them.
I agree..
Maybe that's because the Palestinians...despite their pitiful portrayals to westerners...has always been the destruction of Israel.
Alas, I use to think it was unthinkable too, but the following article seems to confirm the possibility. - OB1
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israeli leader's party will divide Jerusalem
Revelation follows fierce denials of split in 'eternal Jewish capital'
Posted: March 24, 2006
10:34 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – Just five days before national elections here, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party revealed yesterday it would divide Jerusalem and allow a Palestinian state to be established in parts of Israel's "eternal capital."
The revelation follows months of denials by top Kadima officials that the party would advocate withdrawing from Jerusalem.
"The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital," said Otniel Schneller, a Kadima member who represented the party at a debate yesterday on dividing Jerusalem.
The neighborhoods Schneller listed are located on Jerusalem's periphery near the city's border with the West Bank.
Schneller said Kadima supports "separation between us and the Palestinians who don't live in the heart of Jerusalem," claiming there would be "no concessions" on sites that are sacred to Jews.
Several Kadima officials and leaders associated with the party's now comatose founder, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, previously made statements about dividing Jerusalem that immediately were denied by the party.
In December, Sharon's senior campaign pollster Kalman Gayer said in an interview with Newsweek the Israeli prime minister would give up parts of Jerusalem in a peace agreement. Immediately following the publication of Gayer's remarks, Sharon appeared on state-run Israeli television and denied his vision for a Palestinian state includes Jerusalem.
Olmert, who served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003, said in a June 2004 interview with the Jerusalem Post that Israel is contemplating turning parts of Jerusalem over to Palestinian control.
"Jerusalem is dear to me, but one must not lose sight of proportions over peripheral areas we do not need," said Olmert, who served as deputy prime minister at the time. He claimed ceding control of eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods to the Palestinians is "needed to maintain a Jewish majority in the Holy City."
Government officials immediately denied Olmert's statements implied a Jerusalem withdrawal.
Kadima's claims yesterday of "only" withdrawing from peripheral sections of Jerusalem worry many here. The Israeli government has denied previous withdrawal plans only to carry them out later, followed by announcements of more withdrawals in larger magnitudes from areas it pledged not to vacate.
Olmert was the first Sharon deputy to go public with Israel's plan to evacuate its Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank communities. That plan was at first denied but later announced by Sharon. Israel withdrew from Gaza and the West Bank towns this past August, claiming there would be no further West Bank withdrawals.
Following the Gaza withdrawal, Olmert made statements about withdrawing from large sections of the West Bank. His statements immediately were denied by Sharon. Olmert in February announced if his Kadima party wins upcoming elections his administration will seek to "change Israel's borders" by withdrawing from the vast majority of the West Bank.
Israel's left-wing Labor and Meretz parties have in the past discussed dividing Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 offered the Palestinians a state in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Barak's proposal was rejected by the late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.
Jerusalem first was divided into eastern and western sections when Jordan invaded and occupied Jerusalem and the Old City in 1947, expelling all Jewish inhabitants. Israel built its capital in the western part of the city, while the eastern quarters remained under Jordanian control until Israel captured it, along with the Old City, in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War.
During the 19 years of Arab sovereignty, the ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old City was ravaged, 58 synagogues – some centuries old – were destroyed and slum dwellings were built abutting the Western Wall. Jews were not allowed to visit their holy places and Israeli Christians were subjected to many restrictions, with only limited numbers allowed to visit the Old City and Bethlehem at Christmas and Easter.
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