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Came to life: on December 31, 2004 23:59 PM Not a journalist, but highly opinionated

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Can An Arab Live With A Jew (or vice versa)

by POKO on Jan 10th, 2005 11:29 AM

It seems that when Yasser Arafat passed away leaving a big gap in the local political scene, there was a lot of apprehension from both sides of the Gaza Strip. Anyway, the guys wearing the cool dresses held a vote to elect a new leader and the results are starting to come out.
We're going to press early Sunday for the Monday edition so it isn't quite official just yet.
If Mahmud Abbas comes out the winner, as he is expected to, it will be very interesting what will follow. He is on record as having had enough bloodshed and war. There could be a peace treaty in the making between Jew and Arab.
The world is ready for peace!

Peace In The MiddleEast we hope

The following news items have led up to the election:

'Peace is key to independence'
26/12/2004 17:50 - (SA)

Ramallah - Presidential election frontrunner Mahmud Abbas urged Palestinians to abandon the armed intifada on Sunday, saying that independence could only be achieved through peaceful means.
Abbas said that the Palestinians could not hope to secure a military victory over the Israelis and that the use of weapons would only be counter-productive to the national cause.
"I believe that it is clear that a military solution is impossible," the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chairman told a gathering of business leaders in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"The only way is the choice of peace. It is impossible to liberate Palestine with the use of weapons because the balance of power is not with us."
Abbas, who is running for the dominant Fatah faction, is the overwhelming favourite to succeed the late Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat in an election on January 9.
While the former prime minister has been a consistent critic of the militarisation of the Palestinian uprising, he made no reference to the conduct of the intifada in a hardline speech at the launch of his campaign on Saturday.
However in his speech to the business leaders, who have seen the local economy devastated by the impact of the violence, he stressed his belief that "the use of weapons has a harmful effect on us."
Abbas' campaign launch speech, when he demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from all territory occupied since 1967 and the freeing of all Palestinian prisoners, had disappointed Israelis who have been looking to his expected election victory as a chance to revive the peace process.
However his speech on Sunday would have confounded the fears of the likes of deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert who had expressed fears that Abbas could become "a prisoner of his own rhetoric".
Olmert said that the real test of Abbas' character would come after his expected election victory on January 9.
"In any case, the real question is whether he will act against terrorism after the election. If he passes this test it will represent a radical change from the time of Arafat but I am not sure he has decided to this," he added.
A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the government was not particularly perturbed by Abbas' comments.
"He will not be judged on what he says now but on what he does after the election especially with the war against terrorism and how he handles the armed groups," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
While Sharon boycotted Arafat completely, he met Abbas on a number of occasions during the Palestinian's brief tenure as prime minister last year.

Abbas calls for peace talks
06/01/2005 20:29 - (SA)

Nablus - Leading candidate Mahmoud Abbas called for peace talks with Israel after the January 9 Palestinian presidential election on Thursday - a sharp contrast to days of hard-line campaign pronouncements that included his labelling Israel the "Zionist enemy".
Abbas changed his harsh tone from four days of campaigning in Gaza in an unlikely place - the West Bank city of Nablus, a stronghold of militant groups and semi-autonomous armed gangs that rule refugee camps and neighbourhoods and score points with bloody attacks against Israelis.
At a news conference during a campaign swing through the city, Abbas said he would welcome peace talks with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon - vilified by many Palestinians because of harsh Israeli measures during the current conflict.
"After the elections, we will start negotiations," Abbas said. "Ariel Sharon is an elected leader and we will negotiate with him. We will put the 'road map' on the table and say that we are ready to implement it completely."
The internationally backed "road map", which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, was presented in June 2003.
However, implementation stalled in the first of three stages, when Palestinians failed to carry out the requirement to disarm violent groups and Israel did not dismantle dozens of unauthorized West Bank outposts and freeze construction in veteran settlements.
Militants appeared ready to give Abbas a chance. Ala Sanakra, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas's Fatah movement, said Abbas wants to negotiate a cease-fire with Israel. Sanakra said his militants would go along if Israel stops its military activity.
During the campaign, Abbas, 69, has worked hard to expand his constituency, trying to attract younger, more militant Palestinians with hard-line statements identifying with gunmen and backing the right of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants - about four million people - to return to the homes they lost in the 1948-49 war after Israel's creation.
Reached a rhetorical peak
Such stands are anathema to Israel, which demands implementation of the "road map" provision to eliminate the groups responsible for attacks against Israelis and rejects the "right of return" as an attempt to undermine the Jewish state.
Abbas hit a rhetorical peak on Tuesday, when he reacted to the death of seven Palestinians in from Israeli tank shells by denouncing the "Zionist enemy", a term usually used only by Islamic militants.
However, even then, Abbas also criticised militants for firing rockets and mortars at Israel. The lethal tank fire followed a Palestinian mortar barrage.
Israeli officials welcomed the new tone. "The prime minister has said that immediately after the elections he will meet with whoever gets elected to coordinate security issues, and maybe also to coordinate the disengagement plan," said a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Landslide win for Abbas
09/01/2005 22:20 - (SA)

Ramallah - PLO chair Mahmud Abbas won Sunday's Palestinian presidential election by a landslide with a 46% lead over his nearest rival Mustafa Barghuti, according to an exit poll.
Abbas won 66.3% of the votes cast while Barghuti registered 19.7% of the votes, said the study by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research released shortly after the official close of voting at 19:00 GMT.
The former prime minister had been widely expected to be elected as the successor to the late Yasser Arafat.

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