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Newsletter : 1fax0205.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Feb. 5, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 20
Two Days Before Israel Vote, Sharon Remains Ahead
By Laurie Kassman (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli voters go to the polls Tuesday to elect a new prime minister. The latest opinion surveys put opposition leader Ariel Sharon in the lead. A joint survey of Israelis and Palestinians conducted late last month may explain the shift of the Israeli electorate toward a more hardline approach to the peace process.
Most Israeli voters view the election as an unofficial referendum on the peace process. Opinion surveys indicate they want their next leader to take a tougher approach on a process they see as flawed and faltering.
Tel Aviv University's Steinberg Center for Peace tracks Israeli attitudes toward the peace process. Director Tamar Hermann says Israelis still believe in negotiations, but they want Israel to take a much less compromising stand in talks with the Palestinians. That position has hardened during the past four months of clashes, murders, car bombings, and drive-by shootings.
"Israeli Jews believe the Palestinians initiated the last uprising to get further concessions on the part of the Israeli government," said Hermann. "So what they want is to show them an iron fist, to make the Palestinians understand. They believe that if Israel shows a tougher stance, then the Palestinians will get more realistic again."
A joint survey conducted last month by the Steinberg Center and the Palestinian-run Jerusalem Media and Communication Center shows both sides are discouraged and disillusioned.
"Whereas in the past," said Hermann, "there were some strong similarities in the Israeli and Palestinian assessments of the future of the process, nowadays the differences are so large that it is even more troubling."
The survey of more than 2,000 Palestinians and Israelis shows two out of three Israelis blame the Palestinians for the latest deterioration of the peace process. But Hermann says three out of four Palestinians responding to the poll blame the Israelis. They are also more fearful of Israelis. "It was three-fourths in June - defined Israelis as very or strongly violent, whereas today it is 94 percent."
Hermann says the uprising, or intifada in Arabic, has hardened positions on both sides and intensified mutual distrust. "The Palestinians, in a sense, misunderstand the impact of the uprising on the Israeli Jewish psyche. Whereas they perceive for some reason which I can not explain that the uprising has softened the Israeli positions or made the Israelis more willing to make further concessions. The opposite is true in the eyes of Israeli Jews."
The survey findings may help explain the strong showing for Sharon in the opinion polls. Many supporters of Prime Minister Ehud Barak now complain he has been willing to give up too much for too little in return. Sharon has pledged a much less compromising approach toward the Palestinians and the peace process.
Barak Asks Israeli Arabs for Help in Election
By VOA News
Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak used his final cabinet meeting to woo the votes of Israeli Arabs.
Israeli Arabs, who form better than 12 percent of the electorate, helped Barak to a previous landslide election victory. He said it is important for Israeli Arabs to feel that their blood is as precious as other citizens.
Barak says he is counting heavily on votes from Israeli Arabs to beat the Likud party candidate. But a public opinion poll in Sunday's Jerusalem Post indicates only half of Israeli Arabs plan to vote. Many are angry that several Israeli Arabs have been killed by Israeli gunfire in more than four months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
With the election only one day away, Barak continues to exude optimism - despite public opinion polls that continue to show Ariel Sharon far in front.
Sharon, who says he will give no more interviews before Tuesday's election, picked up the endorsement Sunday of a small ultra-orthodox party. The United Torah Judaism party urged voters to choose the candidate who, they say, will not destroy religion in the holy land. The group has strong differences with Barak.
Powell: No Iraqi Development of Weapons of Mass Destruction
By VOA News
Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States reserves the right to use whatever means are necessary to ensure that Iraq does not develop weapons of mass destruction.
Powell told a television interviewer Sunday that the U.S. has to assume that Iraq's Saddam Hussein has not abandoned the goal of developing those weapons. He said the Iraqi leader had made a commitment not to develop such weapons and to demonstrate to the international community that he is not doing so.
Because he has failed to meet those obligations, Powell said the people of the region are threatened by Saddam Hussein and by his potential possession of these weapons.
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