ºThe Palestinian Authority said Wednesday that it would deal with any Israeli
government that abides by UN resolutions calling for the establishment of a
Palestinian state within the pre-1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its
capital.
Reacting to the results of the election, PA spokesman Nabil Abu
Rudaineh said that what the Palestinians care about is that a future Israeli
government accept the two-state solution and halt settlement
construction.
“This is the way for us to deal with the next Israeli
government, which must choose between peace or the current stalemate, which will
have a negative impact on everyone,” Abu Rudaineh said.
PA officials
voiced pessimism regarding the prospects of reviving the peace process in wake
of the Israeli election.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive
Committee, said she did not expect the creation of a “peace coalition” in
Israel.
“The chances for peace will not increase suddenly,” Ashrawi said.
“I don’t expect the establishment of a peace coalition or camp in
Israel.”
Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat also said that the next
government should recognize the two-state solution if it wants peace.
No
matter who joins the next coalition, the new government should stop settlement
construction and release all Palestinian prisoners, Erekat said.
Hanna
Amireh, another PLO official, said the next coalition should abandon the
policies of the outgoing government in order to achieve peace with the
Palestinians.
The results of the vote reflected the “internal crisis in
Israeli society, and the policy of occupation has no future,” he
said.
Amireh warned that the presence of right-wing parties in the
coalition would damage the policies of any government.
Hamas said the
apparent reelection of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did not bode well for
the future.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said that regardless
of who was in power in Israel, “all governments would continue with the
occupation and the suppression of the Palestinians.”
Hamdan called on the
PA leadership to reconsider its entire strategy toward the peace process with
Israel in light of the results of the election.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu
Zuhri said the decline in support for Likud and other rightwing parties in
Israel “reflected the victory of the Palestinian resistance” during November’s
Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip.
Despite the changes in the
Israeli political map, Israeli parties were in agreement over the continuation
of the “aggression against Palestinians and denying them their rights,” he said.