WORLD> Middle East
|
WORLD> Middle East
|
|
Inconclusive election puts Israel, peace in limbo
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-11 22:34 During Netanyahu's three-year term as prime minister a decade ago, he largely froze the interim peace deals his predecessors negotiated with the Palestinians. Netanyahu has derided the past year of peace talks under Kadima as a waste of time, and said he wants to focus on reviving the Palestinian economy. He has also called to crush Hamas, the Islamic militant movement that seized the Gaza Strip by force in June 2007, and remove it from power.
Livni has said she would continue peace talks with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the West Bank. But she also advocates a tough line against Hamas and was one of the architects of Israel's three-week Gaza war, which ended with a temporary cease-fire on Jan. 18.
Netanyahu wants to expand settlements, and even under the outgoing Kadima-led government, in which Livni served as chief negotiator, construction accelerated. The Palestinians want all of the West Bank for a future state, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem. They say the West Bank settlements, home to nearly 300,000 Jews, will make that impossible. It was not immediately clear whether the prospect of weeks of political paralysis would lessen chances for a long-term Gaza truce and a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas. Under the proposed exchange, Israel would free hundreds of Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held since June 2006 by Hamas-allied militants. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, freed from concerns about political fallout, could approve a deal before the new government is sworn in. A swap is linked to efforts to reach a permanent truce on the Gaza-Israel border. Hamas wants Israel and Egypt to lift their blockade of Gaza, while Israel wants a halt to arms smuggling into Gaza.
|
