Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that Israel's next government, whether led by centrist Tzipi Livni or rightist Benjamin Netanyahu, would be unable to forge peace with the Palestinians.
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"Regardless of the coalition formed by any Israeli prime minister, the next Israeli government will be unable to deliver the requirements of peace," Erekat said after election exit polls showed Livni's Kadima party with a narrow 2-seat lead over Netanyahu's Likud party, but parliament leaning rightward.
"If the new Israeli government continues to expand settlements, place roadblocks and obstruct a two-state solution, we have no option but to consider it a non-partner in peace," said Erekat, a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.
The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority said in an official statement earlier Tuesday that it would work with any government Israel elects, as long as it is committed to the peace process.
Off the record, however, senior PA officials said they are worried by the apparent strengthening of the Israeli right. If, as seems likely, Netanyahu becomes prime minister and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu greatly increases its representation, this would bolster Hamas, which opposes negotiations with Israel, they argued.
PA officials were therefore hoping that Kadima chair Tzipi Livni and Labor chairman Ehud Barak will form the next government.
Ordinary Palestinians, in contrast, seem to have little interest in the elections. Palestinian commentators explained that after being disappointed by governments led by all three major Israeli parties - Labor, Kadima and Likud - the public has stopped hoping. Regardless of who heads it, every government has continued building in the settlements and failed to reach a final-status agreement, the pundits said.
This view was echoed by Hamas officials, who said there is no difference among the Zionist parties. But Palestinian pundits said they believe Hamas would prefer the Israeli right, which would allow it to make substantial gains.
Hamas: Little chance of long-term Gaza deal with Likud
Meanwhile, an official from Hamas said Tuesday that the group was waiting to see how the outcome of the Israeli elections would affect the negotiations over Gaza.
A delegation from Hamas' leadership in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday crossed into Egypt to continue cease-fire negotiations in Cairo as Israelis went to the polls in an election whose outcome could influence the talks.
The four-member delegation, which includes the movement's spokesman, Ayman Taha, will join other Hamas negotiators who have been meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials to hash out a deal to establish a long-term ceasefire and open Gaza's borders.
"It all depends on the ouctome of the Israeli elections," Osama Hamdan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from Lebanon on Tuesday.
"If the right-wing Likud party wins, I don't think that the current government will be able to reach an agreement regarding a long-term truce in Gaza. If the current government wins, they could reach an agreement," he said.
Egypt is brokering parallel, indirect talks between Hamas and Israeli negotiators to establish a lasting cease-fire.
Egyptian intelligence officials are trying to get Hamas to agree to a deal that would end Palestinian arms smuggling into Gaza, a key Israeli demand, and re-open the coastal enclave's border crossings, one of Hamas' key demands.
Hamas officials said Monday that it had narrowed the gaps with Israel over a longer-term truce in the Gaza Strip and could begin implementing a deal within days.
