Will the Israeli elections ' result be affected by Hamas government's election in Palestine ?
Answer
Surely. We as Palestinians live next to the Israelis, and we both affect each other. This means that throughout the years of conflict that span over 50 years, Palestinians have observed the results of the Israeli elections, and thus the recent legislative elections' results in Palestine and the sweeping victory of Hamas has become a propaganda material for the competing Israeli parties, especially Kadima and the Likud. The Likud accused Kadima of receding for Hamas through allowing the elections in Jerusalem with Hamas participation, and that Olmert has allowed the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues of last January. Moreover, Likud accuses Kadima now that it will withdraw from the West Bank due to the Palestinian resistance attacks, and thus will lead to the success of Hamas after what it was calling for in Gaza, which forced the Likud Party to put Hamas' green cap on Olmert's head, in references to the concessions he had made. So, the results of the Palestinian elections affected greatly the Israeli electoral process.
Name
Samed
-
Profession
Question
How do you assess the Arab contribution in the Israeli elections?
Answer
Truly Arabs constitute a significant portion of the Israeli voters, as they amount to 12%, which is a very advanced percentage, as they total 620,000 voters. Arabs have voted in the Israeli elections since it was established, through joining the different Israeli political parties from the far left to the far right. Through the past 15 years, Arabs managed to go to the elections with purely Arabic blocs and coalitions, and achieved advanced positions in the Israeli Knesset. The most prominent of these parties is the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, which dates back to the Israeli Communist Party, and has Arab and Jewish Knesset Members. There is also the Unified Arab List, which is composed of the Islamic Movement, and the Arab Democratic Party. There is also the National Democratic Assembly, which represented several progressive figures, led by Dr. Azmi Beshara. Through the past years, there was a discussion in the Arab community in Israel about participating or boycotting the elections, as participation in these elections do not achieve anything specific for the Arabs, so this justified the call for boycotting elections in fear of giving Israel a democratic cover, but the participation opinion ruled in the end. We expect, according to the latest polls, that the Arab parties will receive 10 seats in the Knesset's 120 seats.
Name
Mahmood wahid
-
Profession
Question
All the Israeli parties have showed tough and firm prospect towards the Palestinian rights. Do you think the Israeli society need a peaceful means in dealing with the Palestinians after all that?
Answer
The Palestinian society has used all the peaceful and resistance means to deal with Israel. The malfunction is with the Israeli society, which is led by a group of war and security generals, who keep saying all the time that their platforms do not have a political horizon more than it is related to implementing a unilateral program that excludes any negotiations with the Palestinians, in addition to dealing painful military blows to the Palestinians, and what Sunday Times newspaper reported today about the next Israeli government intending to carry out a major military operation in the West Bank before withdrawing from it. This matter gives a clear indication that the larger malfunctions is with the Israeli society and government, and not with the Palestinians, who got used to pay the price of the Israeli elections each time.
Name
haneen
- Palestine
Profession
studient
Question
Do you think there will be any difference in the israili policy towards the palestinian people if the labor party won the election?
Answer
The Labor Party will not win more than 20 seats in maximum, and thus it will not be more than a coalition partner with Kadima, so its opportunity to achieve political platforms will be a small one, because it will join a coalition with a party that outnumber it in the Knesset, forcing the Labor Party to move closer to Kadima Party in order to get good ministerial positions. So, Palestinians will not win much of the Labor's involvement in the coalition, but the amount of pressure – security and militarily – will be definitely less on them than if Likud Party joined the coalition.
Name
Jia-Leung
- Korea (South)
Profession
Tug Boat Skipper
Question
As a specialist on Israel, are you an optimist or a pessimist about whether there will be another war or will there finally be peace? Thank you for your assistance.
Answer
The questions is not related to being optimists or pessimists. The matter exceeds human feelings, because occupation is bad, painful and damaging. So throughout the 50 years of Israeli occupations, all the results of the Israeli elections were bad for Palestinians. After 58 years of its age, Israel saw 16 election rounds. The Labor Party alone, which is considered leftist, fought four major wars against Arabs and Palestinians, starting with the 1948, 1956 against Egypt, the Catastrophe of 1967 and the 1973 against Egypt also. During the reign of the Labor Party, settlement in the West Bank and Gaza expanded, and Palestinians were deprived of their livelihoods, and there was not any hope for them. Even after the Oslo Accords were signed with Palestinians in 1993, it did not stop their suffering, but on the contrary since these Accords were signed until today, thousands of Palestinians were killed, and dozens of thousands were injured, and thousands of acres of agricultural lands were expropriated. With these actions, Israel eliminated any hopes of peace and coexistence, because Israel lives on the logic of violence, fear and military power. If you ask me today whether I'm optimistic or pessimistic for the next stage, I'm pessimistic, because Israel turned its back to its partners in peace, such as Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, and adopted a unilateral program it is implementing on the ground through its war machine, so how will this change when Hamas won and now rules in the Gaza Strip and West Bank? Many political estimates point out that Israelis and Palestinians might go again through a wave of conflict, but this time it will use more advanced and deadlier military tools, in light of that the international community, especially Europe and the United States, are giving legitimacy to Israel's measures against the Palestinians, and instead of halting down the aggressor and the Occupying Power, it pressures the victims, the Palestinians, to recognize Israel.
Name
Arthur Greenjeans
- United States
Profession
Artichoke Grower
Question
I do not understand what you mean by using the word "Card." Did you mean to say "Cart" instead and, if so, what does that mean?
Answer
It is customary in the political relations to use the word "Card" to indicate the instruments used by the parties involved in the political game, and because of that, using "the Palestinian Card" in the Israeli elections is in the same context as the one in which we use "the Israeli Card in the US elections". This matter does not go beyond being a political expression.
Name
Selvy
-
Profession
Question
Who do you expect to win in this (Israeli) Polls and why ?
Answer
All the opinions and public opinion polls indicate that Kadima Party is destined to rule in Israel with a comfortable majority, due to several reasons and factors… Kadima Party, for Israelis, is the life line in the fields of politics and security, as the founder of this party is the general Ariel Sharon (the last general in Israel) along with a group of militarists, whose presence on top of the party represents a security guarantee for the Israeli society, mainly Shaul Mofaz the Defense Minister and Avi Dichter, Shabak's former chief. The second reason is that Likud Party has not become a true political alternative for the Israeli voter, as Binyamin Netanyahu, who was the former Prime Minister 10 years ago, did not achieve Israelis' aspirations, not to mention that Netanyahu's character is publicly consumed and is suspected of corruption and spending public funds. The third reason is that the Labor Party, which lost a group of its figures, who moved to Kadima, does not represent – with its current leadership – the hopes of the Israeli voters, because Amir Peretz is – for voters – inexperienced politically, and is better for chairing a workers syndicate than a government. The rest of the other parties, whether on the left or the right of the main three parties, represent only its members, especially the extremist rightist parties that represent settlers and ultra orthodox Jews. All these factors force the Israeli voter to vote in the direction of Kadima, in order to head the next Israeli government.
Name
Manoura
-
Profession
Question
Olmert bledges to finalize the Arab- Israeli conflect laterally by putting the final border of Israeli state and force palestinians to accept the on ground status.. Will the settlers approve this move while they have refused Gaza pollout ?
Answer
Olmert is going ahead with this step no matter what, and is determined to see it through, despite the rightist opposition he would face by settlers, but we should not ignore that Olmert did not turn suddenly into an enemy of the settlers, but he will collect hundreds of thousands of West Bank settlers in larger settlement blocs, and this matter is agreed upon by the main Israeli parties; Kadima, Likud and the Labor. In case of any opposition Olmert might face, expectations indicate that he will go into a wide government coalition with the Labor Party and Shas, which will form a large parliamentary cover that will give him enough chance to implement the unilateral withdrawal without any internal political obstacles, in spite of what we might witness soon regarding the evacuation scenes of West Bank settlers, similar to what we saw in Gaza Strip, but in a more dramatic and violent image, meaning that the settlers will try to oppose the plan on the ground, and through refusing the evacuation orders, but this won't last long against the Israeli government determination, and against the financial incentives offered to the settlers.
Name
Joshua
- Canada
Profession
Student
Question
I am studying Middle East history and want to know why the Palestinians did not demand that King Hussein of Jordan give them all of the West Bank before the Six Day War of 1967? Wouldn't that have solved the problem?
Answer
The occupied Palestinian territories far exceed the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem, which means historical Palestine with its internationally-recognized borders was occupied on two parts; the largest of which was in 1948 by the Israeli forces and the facilitation of the British Mandate, and the second stage in 1967 when Israel continued its occupation of the rest of Palestine, and thus our conflict as Palestinians is not with the Jordanians or Egyptians or Syrians, but with the Israeli occupier, who came from all over the world and occupied our lands forcibly. Moreover, the Israeli occupation occupied parts of the Jordanian lands, and did not return it back except under the Arava Agreement in 1994, and Egyptian lands returned under the Camp David Agreement in 1982, and Lebanese lands it withdrew from in 2000 due to the Lebanese resistance, and continues to occupy Syrian lands for more than 33 years. Thus, demanding Jordan historical rights is something that lacks historical precision.
Name
Harry Balz
- Costa Rica
Profession
Question
Dear Mr. or Miss. Abu: Your biography makes no mention of whether you ever resided or studied in Israel. Do you have any Jewish friends with whom you socialize? Exactly what are your personal qualifications to have any opinions on this subject?
Answer
Israel will not allow Palestinians throughout many years to enter Israel to study or reside, and especially for researchers or journalists to approach the Israeli public or interview them. On the contrary, Israel arrested many journalists, politicians and academics, and deprived them of carrying out their jobs, but despite that, Palestinians struggled hard to overcome these obstacles, including me, in order to know the Israeli society, through learning the Hebrew language, and receiving the Israeli journalists who visit the Palestinian territories, and monitoring and translating what the different Israeli media outlets broadcast. That is why it is not strange that Israeli experts on Arabic affairs do not reside in or visit the Palestinian territories, because the communication and monitoring tools have become an alternative for people to residing in the area, though the latter's importance.
Name
Susie Ombraker
- Alaska
Profession
Retired Oenologist
Question
I recently read that Israel was planning to send suicide rabbits into the Occupied Territories. If this is correct, what does Hamas plan to do about it?
Answer
Israel, or part of its political blocs, is currently living an extremist hysteria, whether related to political or religious ideologies, which reminds us of what some religious Jews said that they will send flying mines several years ago, so this matter does not exceed more than a political joke that does not require taking it seriously.
Name
Helsen
-
Profession
Question
leaving the Arab- Israeli conflict's solution to the next generations has been always the policy of Israel... do you think that the Israeli politicians will change this way as Olmert wants to take a single action and divide the palestinian lands in order to declare the Israeli state's borders... want comment please
Answer
For over 58 years of Israel's presence, it is the only country in the world without a constitution that organizes its political work, or internationally-recognized borders. This is not a spontaneous action, as Israel does not hide its intentions in occupying nearby Arab lands, so it did not want to limit itself to internationally-declared borders. What Olmert will do is an Israeli interest that claims to lower friction between Israelis and Palestinians, by setting safe borders for Israelis, but this – as he says – does not mean limiting the movement of the Israeli army, which means that it is a separation that targets civilians or settler population and does not include the Israeli forces, meaning that the Israeli army will have free movement within the West Bank, without repeating the Gaza scenario. So, Olmert is not doing this because of his love for the Palestinians or because he wants to end the conflict, because this conflict exceeds certain leaderships, as it is a long conflict that has roots in history, and thus ending it does not take place with a unilateral step that expropriates more lands and further strangulate the Palestinians. Olmert further escalates the situation on Palestinians, whether militants or civilians.
Name
Saleh
-
Profession
Question
Many monitors have said tha tIsraelis will choose Kadima, a radical party, to face Hamas, seen by Israelis as a radical group, but Many others said Hamas, as a strong Palestinian faction is able to make peace ... what is your opinion ?
Answer
In old times it was said that only the strong can take courageous decisions, which means that over 30 years of Israeli occupation of Gaza, and the continuous construction of settlements, no Israeli leader dared remove any settlement. But with the rise of Sharon to power, who supervised the construction of settlements in Gaza, he was able to remove all the settlements of Gaza. What is important for us is that Hamas, who won a majority in the Palestinian elections, will not do anything that can make it lose the popularity it was elected for, and thus saying that Hamas will able to make peace depends on the type of peace offered: is it a peace that leads to more confiscation of lands, keeping more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, deprives thousands of Palestinian workers of their livelihoods. This will not be a peace, and Hamas will not be able, as Yasser Arafat or Mahmoud Abbas, were not able to convince Palestinians with this peace. The only peace Hamas can convince people with is the one that returns rights to their owners, and does not equalize the victim and aggressor, and gives those who have right the chance to obtain these rights after decades of deprivation and injustice. Palestinians seek peace, but it depends on what kind of peace they're offered. I remember Denis Ross, the former US peace envoy, wrote a back in 2005 entitled "the Lost Peace in the Middle East", and what drew me more in this book the first page, in which he dedicates this book to the children of the Middle East. So, when security is achieved for Palestinian children, then we can speak about a promised peace for the peoples of this land.
