Word: gaza
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After the Gaza war, Israeli voters are expected to veer towards the right in Tuesday's elections, paving the way for a new hard-line coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party. When Israelis last voted in 2006, they chose the centrist Kadima party, which vowed to push for a U.S.-sponsored peace with the Palestinians, even if it meant sacrificing Jewish-held land in the West Bank. This time, with the rise of Hamas in Gaza, few Israelis have illusions about reaching a lasting peace...
Thus, though corruption and the battered Israeli economy have also beset the country, Israelis are scared about the security of their country, with perceived threats coming from Iran, the Lebanese militia Hizballah to the north apart from the Islamic militants Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu and other hawkish politicians are capitalizing on these fears, arguing, for starters, that Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza should have pressed on until Hamas was crushed. Despite the punishing Israeli offensive, the Palestinian Islamists are still firing rockets sporadically from Gaza. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
Early polls appeared to show that Netanyahu, 59, would be a sure winner. His hammering on about the many military threats to Israel made his lead look insurmountable. "There is no choice but to uproot the Iranian-backed regime in Gaza," he told a Wednesday campaign rally. But by the weekend, Netanyahu's lead in the polls was slipping. Livni was right behind him, and gaining...
...start of Israel's offensive, one of Abbas' top aides said Hamas was "110 per cent" to blame for the Gaza attack - an unpopular, if not suicidal, stance among Palestinians, whose ire was directed at Israel. Even as the civilian death toll climbed, Abbas delayed several days before criticizing the Israeli offensive. In the West Bank, which Abbas controls by dint of the presence of the Israeli army, his security forces cracked down brutally on fellow Palestinians protesting the Israeli offensive. Palestinians ask why Abbas did not go to Gaza during the fighting to show solidarity with its residents...
...opinion survey released Thursday by an independent Palestinian polling organization found that Hamas would beat Fatah if a new Palestinian Authority election were held today, and that Hamas acting premier Ismail Haniyeh is the leader most trusted in the West Bank and Gaza. And, as Abbas' own standing falls, so do his prospects of convincing Hamas and other Palestinians that peace may still be possible with the Israelis...