Palestinians pledge to work with Sharon

Negotiator calls Sharon's proposals 'measly'

In this story: A 'day of rage' Sharon is not 'coming to plant roses' Hamas vows to fight Some Palestinians have few hopes RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

GAZA CITY, Gaza -- Palestinians leaders pledged to work with Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon but also expressed fear that Sharon's election will irrevocably alter the peace process.

RESOURCES Israeli Election 2001    AUDIO Natan Sharansky, Israel is our Home party: Barak's campaign had no influence 471K/43 sec. AIFF or WAV sound CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on the low turnout in the election 816 KB/76 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri: Israelis want security without the peace 286K/25 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Barak expresses hope after casting his vote 277K/25 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     ALSO Russians' key role in Israeli vote

"I'm afraid that we will not have a peace process anymore," Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator said in an interview with CNN. "I would say 'God help Palestinians and Israelis' because to have a meaningful peace process means that we would continue where we left off."

During his campaign, Sharon said he would retain Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and would not be willing to dismantle Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Sharon also said concessions that outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak made during negotiations were off the table.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha'ath repeated the Palestinian Authority's assertion that it will deal with Sharon as prime minister. But he said Sharon's "measly" proposals for the peace process were unacceptable.

"If we judge him by his history, it's dismal, and if we judge him by his campaign proposal, that doesn't give us much more hope," he said.

Sha'ath said Sharon's stands on Jerusalem and Jewish settlements were unacceptable, but he expressed hope that the new Israeli leader will change once he is in office.

"People have been known to change once they have responsibility, and therefore, we cannot judge him just by the past," he said.

Sharon is hated throughout the Arab world but especially by many Palestinians for his role in the 1982 massacres in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

An Israeli judicial commission in 1983 found Sharon indirectly responsible for the massacre of the Palestinians in the camps by Christian militiamen allied with Israel. Sharon was defense minister at the time and was forced to resign.

Sharon, 72, also has been blamed by some for igniting the 4-month-old Palestinian uprising by making a provocative visit to a Jerusalem holy site claimed by both Jews and Muslims under a heavily armed escort.

A 'day of rage'

Palestinians promised to make Tuesday a "day of rage" and there were clashes reported between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers at Ramallah. The Israel Defense Force sealed off the Palestinian territories and deployed 15,000 troops.

Clashes were reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent at Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem and Tulkarem. The Red Crescent said 69 Palestinians were injured, at least three of them from live ammunition. The IDF said two of its soldiers were lightly injured at Hebron and Nablus when they were hit by stones.

A tunnel road from the West Bank to Jerusalem was closed after an exchange of gunfire, the IDF said. The IDF said its soldiers were fired upon at Hebron and near Rafah in southern Gaza, near the Israeli-Egyptian border, and that IDF troops had returned fire.

But the mood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was largely one of indifference, with many Palestinians saying both candidates for prime minister have a history of oppressing them and that they don't believe their situation can worsen under Sharon. Palestinians do not have the right to vote, unlike Israel's Arab citizens.

Sharon is not 'coming to plant roses'

Marwan Kanafani, a media adviser to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, is concerned that Sharon will "come with more aggression" against Palestinians.

"We don't think that Mr. Sharon is coming to plant roses ... on the road between here and Jerusalem," Kanafani said.

Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Cabinet minister, said the Palestinian leadership's fear of Sharon is exaggerated.

"Sharon may be brutal, but so is Barak," Ashrawi said. "Sharon will offer, in terms of the peace process, less than Barak ... what Barak could not deliver, certainly Sharon will not deliver.

"I think that this exaggerated fear of Sharon or this exaggerated confidence in Barak -- both are entirely unrealistic," she said.

Hamas vows to fight

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, said Barak and Sharon were cut from the same cloth. "The two men have Palestinian blood on their hands," he told Reuters.

Yassin vowed that Hamas, which opposes Israeli-Palestinian peace deals, would fight on whoever was Israel's leader.

"We will use all means to resist the aggression regardless of who heads that entity," he said.

Hamas has in the past claimed responsibility for several suicide bomb attacks that killed or hurt scores of Israelis.

Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab warned that Palestinian leaders' perceived preference for Barak will backfire.

"It's a big mistake when the Palestinian Authority tries to bet on (the) loser. It will lose," Shanab said. "So, all the time, they bet on the loser, and they lost."

Some Palestinians have few hopes

On the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian violence has resulted in a grim routine of gunfire and death, funerals and rage. The bitterness that many Palestinians feel is not against the current or future Israeli leader, but against Israel itself.

Ordinary Palestinians said Barak had failed to win their trust because peace talks had been suspended amid the bloodshed and an independent state has yet to be established.

"We have tried Barak, and we faced killings and suffering. We are not sure Sharon would represent a bigger danger to the peace process," said Abdel-Raouf Barbakh, 27, from Rafah in southern Gaza.

In Gaza, shopkeeper Fuad Al-Soufi, 30, said he trusted neither Israeli candidate to make peace. "There is no sheep within the herd of wolves. Both Sharon and Barak are a curse to peace," he said.

"They're all the same," another Palestinian told CNN. "Sharon is a butcher, and so is Barak. This peace just isn't working."

Added another: "We want someone who will leave us alone."

CNN Senior International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, Correspondent Ben Wedeman and Reuters contributed to this report.

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February 1, 2001
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January 27, 2001

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