Sharon sets about building coalition

Arafat urges new Israeli PM to resume negotiations

In this story: 'Israel gave us a mandate' Sharon hopes for 'national cohesion' Erakat: 'Stop shifting facts' Arab Israeli predicts Sharon defeat Labor cooperation in question RELATED STORIES, SITES

TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's campaign platform won him election this week but it may threaten his prospects of forming a broad-based coalition government.

At the same time, Palestinian leaders Wednesday voiced fear that a Likud-based government might seek a "pretext for not negotiating" a Middle East peace by demanding new conditions the Palestinians would deem unacceptable.

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The concerns were expressed by a senior Palestinian negotiator, even as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sent Sharon a cable calling on him to resume the peace process where negotiators left off with Ehud Barak's government.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN the cable was sent earlier Wednesday.

"We cannot go backwards, we can only go forward," Erakat said of the peace talks.

Sharon won the election Tuesday, trouncing incumbent Ehud Barak by more than 25 percentage points. With more than 99 per cent of the vote counted, Sharon took 62.5 per cent of the votes, while Barak garnered 37.4 per cent.

Arafat greeted Sharon's victory by having his spokesman say the Palestinians were "ready to deal with any elected Israeli government."

QUICK FACTS Sharon’s hurdles  • Has 45 days to form government once results are confirmed on February 13  • Must gain Knesset approval of his budget by March 31 - if unsuccessful, new elections will be called    VIDEO CNN's Brent Sadler describes the memories many Palestinians have of Sharon (February 7) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Israel Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon thanks supporters in his victory speech (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Ehud Barak delivers concession speech to Labor Party supporters (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Barak's concession speech - Part 2 (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     RESOURCES Domestic and international reaction to the election of Ariel Sharon     RESOURCES Israeli Election 2001     GALLERY Timeline gallery: Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon    MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     ALSO Sharon to face old foes Press alarmed by Sharon win Investors wait on Sharon Analysis: Europe fears for peace process Bush pledges close cooperation with Sharon Palestinians pledge to work with Sharon

'Israel gave us a mandate'

Appearing on CNN International's Q&A, Sharon campaign manager Silvan Shalom said the Likud party is aiming to build a government that reflects party ideology.

"The majority of the people of the state of Israel gave us a mandate to implement our way and our ideology. Of course, we don't want to force the left wing to accept our ideology," he said.

"What we have to try is to try to narrow the gaps between the two wings, and to reach such guidelines that will lead us forward to try to reach an agreement with the Palestinians."

Erakat, who also appeared on CNN International Wednesday, said Palestinians want "an immediate resumption of the peace talks -- as soon as Sharon forms his government."

Sharon hopes for 'national cohesion'

Shalom, a member of the Knesset, said the resignation of Barak "doesn't make it easier because there is no leader now in the Labor Party that can deal with us."

But he said a group of six Labor Party members "will come tomorrow morning and try to negotiate with us."

Sharon, 72, has 45 days from February 13 -- when official election results will be announced -- to form a government he said must be one of "national cohesion."

After visiting the grave of his wife, who died last year, Sharon on Wednesday made a pilgrimage to the Western Wall. His last visit to Judaism's holiest shrine -- one that shares a sacred east Jerusalem site with a pair of mosques holy to Muslims -- preceded the eruption of a wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that has killed more than 400 people, most of them Palestinians.

Erakat: 'Stop shifting facts'

Sharon campaigned on a pledge of "peace with security," and promised not to divide Jerusalem -- the city both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital and most holy city -- and to grant much less territory to the future Palestinian state than had been proposed by Barak.

Erakat responded on Wednesday, saying, "I'm really confused after Mr. Sharon's statement. Is he seeking a pretext for not negotiating, because he said he can't negotiate with us without having a precondition, and then he said we must come to the negotiations without precondition, so he's conditioning us and asking to come into negotiations from scratch."

Erakat accused Sharon of a "mentality of political blindness, (an) arrogance of power. Stop putting conditions, stop shifting facts, scoring points; this will not lead Palestinians and Israelis anywhere. We need peace as Palestinians, and they need peace as Israelis."

Arab Israeli predicts Sharon defeat

A member of the fractured 120-member Israeli Knesset, which must vote on Sharon's proposals for everything from peace with the Palestinians to the nation's budget, said Wednesday that his contingency would continue to pursue new elections.

"I think that this government will be the shortest government even in the history of Israeli," said Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab member of the Knesset. "We will, from the very beginning, act in order to bring it down and to have early elections for both Knesset and prime minister."

Sharon is reviled by the Palestinians for orchestrating Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. An Israeli inquiry later found that the invasion led to the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at two refugee camps by Lebanese militia allied with Israel -- and that then-Defense Minister Sharon was partly responsible for the deaths.

Labor cooperation in question

Though Barak resigned his seat in the Knesset and the leadership of the Labor Party, he will remain as caretaker prime minister until Sharon completes the formation of his government.

The question of Barak's replacement at Labor's helm was central to Sharon's quest for a unity government. If he cannot bring Labor on board, Sharon will almost certainly be forced to string together a narrow coalition of religious, right-wing and centrist parties -- one that may not be stable enough to even approve a budget.

And Israel's budget must be approved by March 31 or new elections -- the Knesset's goal before Barak's resignation -- will be held on April 15.

Among those touted as possible leaders of the left-center party were Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, a harsh Barak critic long seen as his possible successor; Shlomo Ben-Ami, the outgoing foreign minister and one of Barak's peace negotiators; and Shimon Peres, Labor's elder statesman and Nobel Prize laureate Shimon Peres.

Labor Party members of the Knesset were deeply divided over the issue of cooperating with Sharon. Colette Avital, a Labor Party Knesset member, told CNN that she didn't believe Likud had any "realistic proposals" for peace -- or "much desire to reach peace."

Others, including outgoing Communication Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezar, have urged cooperation with Sharon.

CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna and Correspondent Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

Israelis vote amid threats
February 6, 2001
Barak tries to coax Israeli Arabs to polls as vote nears
February 4, 2001
Blow for Barak as Rabbis back Sharon
February 4, 2001
Barak refuses to stand aside
January 31, 2001
Mideast negotiators want to continue talks after Israeli elections
January 27, 2001

Israeli Prime Minister's Office
Knesset, The Israeli Parliament
Likud
Meretz Party
Avoda (Labour) Party
Israel Defense Forces
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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