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Hamas: Zionist voters have elected a 'troika of terrorism'
"This shows that the Zionist voters clearly start choosing the one who is most extreme in his speech, the one who wants war with the Palestinians," Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas official, told Al-Jazeera. "This troika, this trio of terrorism of Lieberman, Livni and Netanyahu chose the dramatic development in Israeli society towards terror." Speaking from Beirut, Osama Hamdan, another senior Hamas official, said "both sides are working against Hamas, against the Palestinians", but Netanyahu and the right-wing was doing it in a way "that cannot be defended." He said that Livni was doing it in a "very soft way so it can be defended by the West and the United States". A right-wing Israeli government could dampen prospects for Egyptian-led attempts to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers after Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza last month. It is also likely to delay the possibility of a lasting settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. President Mahmoud Abbas said that however far-right the Israeli government were to go, pragmatism would trump ideology. "The ascent of the Israeli right does not worry us," he told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper. "In whatever form, the government, once in power, will ultimately end up with responsibility, pragmatism prevailing." Saeb Erekat, a top negotiator for the PA, told Al-Jazeera that there was little chance of a peace deal with a government comprising the parties elected on Tuesday. "Any form of government as a result of these elections will not accept the two state solution, they will not accept the agreements signed, they will continue with the settlements activities and the incursions and the attacks," Erekat said. "I think we will conside them an un-partner," he said. It is up to President Shimon Peres to decide whether Livni or Netanyahu should have the first shot at forming a government. Peres will meet with party leaders to hear their recommendations, and then has a week to make up his mind. Posted by: Fred 2009-02-12 |
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