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Abbas election victory stirs hopes for peace talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-10 20:35
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Victory by an advocate of non-violence in
Palestinian presidential elections stirred hopes Monday for new peace talks, but
Israel demanded the Palestinians move first by cracking down on militants.
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| Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas (L) celebrates his
campaign with a supporter after the close of voting in the West Bank city
of Ramallah, January 9, 2005. [Reuters] | "The main focus at this stage, following (Sunday's) election, should be
Palestinian action on terror," Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's office quoted him
as telling visiting U.S. Senator John Kerry.
Mahmoud Abbas, 69, claimed victory after exit polls showed he had won 65
percent of the vote in the elections in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem to find a successor to Yasser Arafat. The margin was at the top end of
expectations.
Israel has said it sees Abbas as a man to do business with and has praised
his calls for an end to violence in a 4-year-old Palestinian uprising. But it
has criticized his intention to co-opt rather than confront militants.
"The Palestinians are still not fighting terror and while (Abbas's)
declarations in the framework of the election campaign were encouraging, he will
be tested by the way he battles terror and acts to dismantle its
infrastructure," Sharon said.
In his comments to Kerry, who lost the 2004 U.S. presidential ballot to
incumbent George W. Bush, Sharon offered to resume cooperation between Israeli
and Palestinian security organizations and coordinate aspects of a planned Gaza
pullout.
But he said: "If terrorism continues until implementation of the
disengagement plan, Israel's response will be stronger than ever." He was
referring to mortar bomb attacks on Jewish settlements in Gaza slated for
evacuation later this year.
Militants, including the Islamic movement Hamas, have defied Abbas's calls to
end armed struggle. And neither Palestinians nor Israelis have shown signs of
compromise on fundamental issues behind decades of conflict.
NEW ISRAELI GOVERNMENT
In another significant shift in the Middle East equation, a new Israeli
government led by Sharon but with veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres' center-left
Labor Party a main partner, was expected to take office later in the day.
It will restore Sharon's parliamentary majority for the first time in six
months and pursue the Gaza pullout opposed by hard-liners, including rebels in
his right-wing Likud party.
Turnout in the first Palestinian presidential election since 1996 looked
healthy despite a boycott call by Islamic militants, strengthening Abbas's
mandate for change after Arafat's death at the age of 75 on Nov. 11.
"A moderate man was elected, an intelligent man, an experienced man. Let's
give him a chance," Peres told Army Radio.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who led an international monitoring team,
said Abbas won "a remarkably wonderful victory." Final election results were
expected later Monday.
"He will be inaugurated as a new president Wednesday ... This opens up an
opportunity, in my opinion, for renewed peace negotiations," Carter said after
meeting Abbas.
Abbas has promised to seek peace with Israel, battle widespread corruption
and revive the crumbling Palestinian Authority, reversing the legacy of four
years of debilitating violence and Arafat's chaotic rule.
"Victory is beautiful but it will be more beautiful to fulfil the
pledges," said Abbas, candidate of the dominant Fatah movement.
Israeli officials have said Sharon, who accused Arafat of fomenting violence
and shunned him for years, will seek a meeting with Abbas within days. But Abbas
aides said he wanted assurances that it would be more than a photo opportunity.
The militant Islamic group Hamas said it could work with Abbas, but
questioned his real margin of victory.
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