Responses were quick in coming after it became clear that Ariel Sharon had soundly defeated Ehud Barak in this week's Prime Ministerial elections. PLO Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said that Yasser Arafat and company were "willing to work with any Israeli government." He added that "what we are concerned about is that the new government ought to respect the agreements we reached with the previous government and recognize that the only way to achieve peace in the region is by coming to terms with the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people."
PLO Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo was less conciliatory. He described Sharon's victory as the "most foolish event in the Middle East." The Palestinian semi-official daily al Ayyam quoted Abed Rabbo as saying that "the Israelis elected the representative of extremism and racism, this man will take Israeli politics down the drain and those who elected them will regret the great sin they committed."
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, said that the Arabs are not scared by Sharon: "This mass murderer is not going to scare us. In fact he represents the real ugly face of Zionism," he said. Yassin said the Arabs would adopt the road of "resistance and Jihad" until they succeeded in recovering their "usurped rights and occupied homeland." Marwan Barghouthi, head of the Fatah movement, vowed to continue the intifada because - referring to its effect on Ariel Sharon - it is "the proper response to this blood-sucker."
He added: "The Intifada will continue, and we will succeed in overcoming Sharon as we have other Zionist leaders who chose to ignore our rights." Barghouthi also argued that Sharon's landslide victory demonstrated that the Israeli Jewish people "were themselves tilting toward extremism and terrorism."
PLO Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo was less conciliatory. He described Sharon's victory as the "most foolish event in the Middle East." The Palestinian semi-official daily al Ayyam quoted Abed Rabbo as saying that "the Israelis elected the representative of extremism and racism, this man will take Israeli politics down the drain and those who elected them will regret the great sin they committed."
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, said that the Arabs are not scared by Sharon: "This mass murderer is not going to scare us. In fact he represents the real ugly face of Zionism," he said. Yassin said the Arabs would adopt the road of "resistance and Jihad" until they succeeded in recovering their "usurped rights and occupied homeland." Marwan Barghouthi, head of the Fatah movement, vowed to continue the intifada because - referring to its effect on Ariel Sharon - it is "the proper response to this blood-sucker."
He added: "The Intifada will continue, and we will succeed in overcoming Sharon as we have other Zionist leaders who chose to ignore our rights." Barghouthi also argued that Sharon's landslide victory demonstrated that the Israeli Jewish people "were themselves tilting toward extremism and terrorism."