"All We Are Saying...Is Give Peace a Chance"

Kadima Projected to Win Israeli Elections

Published on March 28, 2006 By Larry Kuperman In International

Based on exit polls, Israel's newest party, the centrist Kadima party, is projected to win the largest number of seats in the Israeli Parliament. This will mark the first time since the 1970's that the Likud Party will not be the dominant force in Israeli politics.

Kadima was formed by Ariel Sharon before his debilitating stroke left him in a coma. Sharon left the right-wing Likud party, which now falls to controlling the fourth largest block of seats in Parliament.

Kadima favors the return of the West Bank to Palestinian control and Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to remove as many as 90,000 Israeli settlers from the interior of the West Bank by force if necessary and place them closer to the 1949 armistice line that separates Israel from the West Bank.

The election comes the same day that the Palestinian parliament approved a Hamas-led government by a 71-36 vote. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's government is scheduled to be sworn in Thursday.

Will this election be the first step on the road to peace? Hopefully.

Comments

stutefish

on Mar 28, 2006

Will this election be the first step on the road to peace? Hopefully.

Well, it's not like the Palestinians have taken any steps lately...

Dr Guy

on Mar 28, 2006

And Sharon did it, even while being vilified by those who could not give him the benefit of the doubt. Good men do what they have to. Great men do what has to be done and work to make sure good prevails.

I am sorry for his suffering, but it seems that whatever he had to do in the past, or was unjustly accused of, he will be remembered as a great man.

Larry Kuperman

on Mar 28, 2006

Thank you both for commenting.

Actually, Dr. Guy, unilateral initiatives like Gaza seem to undermine the peace process. Palestine HAD a government that was looking to negotiate. By refusing to negotiate with them, the Sharon government (Likud remember, not Kadima) sent a message that Abbas was powerless, ineffective. That may have helped the Hamas victory. I'll blog more on that at a later date, but hopefully Kadima will be the new power that DOES negotiate.

Ironically, according to poll data, the majority of Palestinians and Israelis would accept the same peace plan. However neither party believes that the other would negotiate in good faith, so they remain apart. That is Kadima's biggest challenge, to create an atmosphere of trust.

Lee1776

on Mar 28, 2006

That is Kadima's biggest challenge, to create an atmosphere of trust.

I truely beleive it is not Kadima's challenge, but Humas. The ball is in thier court, but if they don't take the offer. Then they will and sould be the only one to blame when Kadima brings down that mallet, if Humas don't negotiate. Kadima openly states that it will use force if pushed.

The question is Humas, it is hard to trust a group that states in its charter that nagotiations are not to be used and if used only as a distraction.

Adventure-Dude

on Mar 29, 2006

My question is what is your definition of peace?

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