Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005
Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005 |
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By Atul Aneja
MANAMA, JAN. 10. The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has won a landslide victory in the elections to the post of Palestinian Authority President, setting the stage for the revival of peace talks with Israel and a review of the armed uprising against Israeli occupation that began four years ago. Official results said Mr. Abbas — also known as Abu Mazen — had won 62.3 per cent of the vote. The turnout was reported to have been at least 66 per cent.
Barghouti admits defeat
His nearest rival, Mustafa Barghouti, who won around 20 per cent of the vote, acknowledged defeat, but said it was a victory for Palestinian democracy. Mr. Abbas declared victory on Sunday, based on exit polls that showed him winning comfortably. Mr. Abbas is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday. The European Union Foreign Minister, Javier Solana, has met Mr. Abbas and expressed the hope that the West Asia peace process would revive soon. Earlier, he told reporters in Amman that the E.U. would soon appoint a new negotiator and support the elected Palestinian leader. Mr. Abbas dedicated his win to Yasser Arafat. "We offer this victory to the soul of the brother, martyr Yasser Arafat and to all Palestinians," Mr. Abbas told jubilant supporters of his Fatah party in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday. "There is a difficult mission ahead to build our state, to achieve security for our people ... to give our prisoners freedom, our fugitives a life in dignity, to reach our goal of an independent state," he said amid cheers by hundreds of people. Ahmed Soboh, a Deputy Minister and former media adviser to Arafat, told The Hindu over telephone from Ramallah that by voting affirmatively for Mr. Abbas, Palestinians had demonstrated that they wanted a real change in their lives. "The Palestinian people are giving out a message that they want a better quality of life, which can come with an end to Israeli checkpoints, release of prisoners and an end to the confiscation of their land". Mr. Abbas, during his campaign, had said that the Palestinian struggle for a homeland should acquire a peaceful orientation that would facilitate negotiations. Responding to Mr. Abbas' huge margin of victory, the Israeli Prime Minster, Ariel Sharon's aide, Raanan Gissin said, "We hope that from this mandate Abu Mazen will lead the Palestinian people on the path of reconciliation."
Militants sceptical
But expressing scepticism about the future, Mahmoud Zahar, the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, popularly known as Hamas told the BBC that the new President would not succeed because Israel would not give him a chance. He, however, said that his group would continue to cooperate with Mr. Abbas. AP reports: European countries on Monday welcomed the election of Mr. Abbas as a sign that Palestinians want to reform their Government and find a negotiated solution with Israel. The German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, said his country and other European nations would do everything possible to help Mr. Abbas create an ``independent, viable and democratic'' state. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in a message, said he looked forward to cooperation on achieving ``a just Palestinian-Israeli settlement on the basis of the Road Map (peace plan) and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council.
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