World watches drama unfold in Israel

World watches drama unfold in Israel

NICOSIA (AFP): All eyes were on Israel yesterday as rightwing challenger Benjamin Netanyahu looked set to snatch victory from veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres threatening to derail the fragile Middle East peace process.

"The election of Netanyahu is a declaration of war against Palestinians and the Arabs," thundered a Hamas leader in Gaza, Ghazi Hamad.

"The Israelis don't want peace. The results of the polls are a shock for the whole world, including the Palestinians," he told AFP.

But in a first reaction from the United States, the main sponsor of the peace process President Bill Clinton said U.S. policy in the region would remain unchanged.

"Whatever the result, the United States will continue its policy of support for the people of Israel, for the democratic process there and for the process of peace," Clinton said.

The polls see-sawed after they closed late on Wednesday, initially giving Peres a slim lead but then tilting back to give Netanyahu a lead of 50.3 with 140,000 votes left to count.

Peres, 72, is one of the main architects of the peace accords with the Palestinians and has pledged to follow the course charted by his slain predecessor Yitzhak Rabin to achieve peace with other Arab neighbors.

Netanyahu, 46, on the other hand said he would pursue the peace process but would only abide by what has been agreed so far, make no further territorial concessions and step up the Jewish settlement of the Palestinian territories.

The Arab League in Cairo said "Arabs have something to worry about."

"We cannot ignore Netanyahu's statements during his election campaign which are hostile to the Arabs and go against the fundamentals of the peace process," said a senior official Muffaq al-Allaf.

But Palestinian leaders, who have implicitly backed Peres throughout the campaign, struggled to put a brave face on the shock polls.

Finance Minister Zohdi Nashashibi said the peace process sponsored by Russia and the United States is "stronger than any government. It's an international process and it will continue whether somebody likes it or not."

He said the Palestinians had faith that world opinion would press for an immediate start to negotiations on the final status of the territories, which they hope will lead to an independent state.

Egypt too sought to draw comfort from history saying the pace of peace could be slowed but not halted.

"If Netanyahu wins, it will take some time to resume the peace process, but it will surely go on," the Al-Ahram daily said.

Syria, which has so far failed to make peace with Israel despite years of on-off negotiations, said it was not interested in who won.

"The only acceptable aim of the Israeli elections is to draw up a new Israeli position fitting in with the UN Security Council resolutions," Damascus radio said.

However, a disgusted Leah Rabin, wife of the assassinated premier, said she felt like "packing my bags and as quickly as possible fly away from here."

Outside the region, the French foreign ministry acknowledged it was watching the outcome attentively, but Norway which hosted secret negotiations leading to 1993 Oslo accords voiced confidence in the future of peace.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjeorn Tore Godal told the NTB news agency that Netanyahu had repeatedly said he would pursue the peace process.