Netanyahu's agenda would affect Middle East peace process
May 30, 1996
Web posted at: 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT)From Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Regardless of the winner, the Israeli election was really a referendum on the Mideast peace process. With Prime Minister Shimon Peres trailing by a narrow margin Thursday, the election may eventually be known as a vote of no confidence on his peace agreements with the Palestinians and Jordan and his peace negotiations with Syria.
Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu promises a different approach, which he says provides better security for Israel. In taking a tougher line with Palestinians, he has said he won't honor an Israeli commitment to discuss the future of Jerusalem. Netanyahu also favors a halt to troop withdrawals from occupied territory and a renewed drive to settle Jews in the West Bank.
Security versus peace
Under a Netanyahu administration "it's hard to see how the Oslo peace process could stay alive for any length of time," says Israeli political analyst Chemi Shalev. Peres was a co-winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for peace agreements with the Palestinians reached during negotiations in Oslo, Norway. The other winners were Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated last November.
Because Netanyahu is expected to form a right-wing religious government, some of his supporters are talking about re-opening the Oslo talks. "Yasser Arafat is a war criminal," says Ariel Sharon, a former defense minister.
"The difficulties will increase," if Netanyahu proceeds with his agenda to deny a Palestinian state, argues Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Council member.
Israelis are so sharply divided after the election it probably doesn't matter who won. Neither Peres nor Netanyahu can claim a mandate to either continue or kill the Middle East peace process. So it hangs in limbo, waiting to be reinvented or die.
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