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Feature: Palestinians See No Change in Israeli Policies

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 09:00 CST

Feature: Palestinians see no change in Israeli policies

By Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- As Israelis went to polling stations across Israel on Tuesday to elect their new Knesset (Parliament) members, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip showed indifference to the voting, suspecting no change in Israeli policies toward them.

The Palestinians in Gaza said whatever the results of the Israeli elections are, all Israeli governments adopt almost the same policy in dealing with them.

"The Israeli political situation would never change whoever wins in the elections," said Ahmed Abu Hamada, a 25-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, adding that all Israeli parties are the same faces.

Abu Hamada said he knew in advance that the centrist Kadima party would win the election.

"Everyone knows Kadima. Its members and leaders are from the right wing and also former Labor party, all of whom believe in the same principle of not giving the Palestinians their legitimate rights," Abu Hamada said.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, head of the Hamas movement in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said Tuesday that there's no difference among the Israeli parties.

"We won't interfere in the Israeli elections," said al-Zahar.

Meanwhile, Fatah lawmaker Mohammed Dahlan told reporters that the important issue is to see which leaders in Israel would recognize the Palestinian people's rights and act on ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories, as well as the Israeli- Palestinian conflicts.

He referred to the fact that the Israeli election was an Israeli internal issue and the Palestinians preferred not to be involved.

Ordinary Palestinians agree that there would be no difference in Israeli governments. They were only concerned about whether their life would become better or more miserable.

"Israel would never withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem. And all of us do believe that the conflict won't stop even if there are partial or unilateral solutions," said Talal Okal, a Palestinian analyst from Gaza.

He added that the Palestinians couldn't believe that Israel and all its previous or coming governments would stop expanding settlements, building the fence and carrying out collective punishments.

Mariam Odah, a 45-year-old mother of five children from the Beach Refugee Camp, said that she did not expect anything new from the coming Israeli cabinet.

"I'm really concerned about when this conflict would end. My children are young now, but who could guarantee that when they get older, they won't become militants to carry out attacks and then they would be killed," said Odah.

Israel's Kadima party were projected to win 29 to 32 seats in Tuesday's election, according to an exit poll released right after the election closed at 10 p.m.(2000 GMT).

Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who heads the Kadima in the election, has vowed that he would draw Israel's borders within four years by carrying out further unilateral steps in the West Bank after he won the election.

Meanwhile, he said that Israel would hold large settlements in the West Bank, where the Palestinians want to establish a state along with the Gaza Strip.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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