Israelis Weigh Palestinian Vote Result
As Palestinian election returns showed a victory for Hamas, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called in his closest advisers for urgent consultations.
MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
NPR's Linda Gradstein reports.
LINDA GRADSTEIN: One senior Israeli official said a Hamas victory was never considered a serious possibility among Israeli analysts. And the result of the Palestinian election, he added, has thrown the government into turmoil. Right-wing Israeli politicians blame the current Israeli government for the Hamas win. They said the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza this summer had strengthened Hamas. Gideon Saar, the chairman of the Likud faction in the Israeli Parliament said Israel has failed in its fight against Hamas.
GIDEON SAAR: This policy of unilateral withdraws, and giving territories without anything in return will bring the Palestinians to the conclusion that terror and violence is the right way to have achievements.
GRADSTEIN: Collette Avital of the center-left Labor Party said the Hamas victory is bad news for the peace process.
COLLETTE AVITAL: This is real setback for the peace process which started in Oslo, which was based on mutual recognition. As you know, there is no mutual recognition between us and the Hamas.
GRADSTEIN: Mr. YOSI BEILIN (Meretz Party) The victory of Hamas is big news for everybody who believes in peace and in negotiations. This movement is not ready to recognize Israel and to put an end to terrorism.
GRADSTEIN: Israeli analysts say it will take time for the government to formulate its approach to a Hamas-led government in the West Bank. Ori Dromey, a former director of the government press office, said in the short run, Israel will continue its policy of unilateral separation from the Palestinians. But he said negotiations could become possible if Hamas makes some substantial changes.
ORI DROMEY: Even if Hamas revokes its charter and disarms and resigns to political venue only, then as somebody told us, never say never.
GRADSTEIN: In a Jerusalem coffee shop, Reyut Barzelai(ph), a 28 year-old student at Hebrew University, says she's worried that Hamas will gain international legitimacy.
REYUT BARZELAI: The fact that they're, well, a terrorist organization, basically, that now has political power as well, and I'm very concerned about how the states in Europe would treat them. I'm kind of afraid that they would just accept them, you know, just as any political party, which they are not.
GRADSTEIN: Hadas Levtsur(ph), a flight attendant, said she believes more suicide bombings are now inevitable. And she's sure the Hamas victory makes a peace agreement almost impossible.
HADAS LEVTSUR: I think it makes things worse. Because until now, we didn't have any partners. If we thought that we would have any partners, now we won't have, the Hamas will never sit with us at the same table.
GRADSTEIN: No one in the coffee shop was happy about the Hamas victory. But some said, even with Fatah, there wasn't a peace process anyway. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem.
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