The results of the Israeli elections will not change Israel’s policies toward the Palestinian issue, Palestinians said on Wednesday, adding that they do not see a difference between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rivals.
The Palestinian Authority did not comment on the results of the elections, while Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip said that whoever forms the next government would endorse the same policies of Netanyahu.
Other Palestinians expressed concern over the rise in the power of right-wing parties.
“The results of the elections show that many Israelis support extremist parties that are very hostile to the Palestinians,” a Fatah official told The Jerusalem Post. “The presence of these parties in the Knesset or the coalition does not bode well for the future of any peace process.”
Palestinian political analysts said that most Palestinians did not show interest in the Israeli elections, mainly because the Palestinian issue was absent from the electoral campaigns of most of the parties.
“The Israeli occupation elections will not change the reality of the brutality and aggression practiced against the Palestinian people,” several Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip said in a statement. “It does not matter whether Netanyahu or someone else wins the elections. They are all enemies of the Palestinian people.”
Hamas said that it was not counting on any changes within Israeli society in the aftermath of the elections. The terror group said that it does not see a difference between the various Israeli parties because they are all “the product of the Zionist enterprise.”
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that the identity of any upcoming Israeli government “will not change the nature of the conflict” with the Palestinians.
Wasel Abu Yusef, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said the Palestinians were aware that there is no hope in light of the increase in the power of the right-wing parties in Israel.
Abu Yusef said that the Palestinians were relying on the international community to put pressure on Israel “to end the occupation.”
Nabil Sha’ath, a former Palestinian Authority foreign minister who currently serves as a senior adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said he also did not expect any change in Israel’s policy toward the Palestinian issue after Tuesday’s elections.
Sha’ath told Chinese news agency Xinhua that the results showed the right-wing parties in Israel have increased their power. “This means that the same policy against the Palestinians will continue,” he said.
Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, said that the results of the Israeli elections showed the “complete domination of the extreme racist Right and the supporters of Apartheid.”
Barghouti said in a statement that “supporters of racism are present in Netanyahu’s camp and among his opponents. They are all hostile to peace and the rights of the Palestinian people.”
The results of the Israeli elections, he added, “show the absence of any opportunities for meaningful negotiations with the next Israeli government.”