Arab moderates root for Israel's Labor candidate

Mr. Sharon is widely seen in the Arab world as having escalated the Palestinian conflict by using greater military force and reoccupying the West Bank. He is also criticized for thwarting negotiating efforts and peace initiatives, including a Saudi proposal for pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights.

"To achieve anything, we need to change the internal constellation of political forces in Israel and strengthen the pragmatic camp," says Hassan Barari, an analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Amman. "At the end of the day, we have the Saudi initiative, and we need a partner for it."

Egypt is hoping some form of a declaration will emanate from tomorrow's meetings of Palestinian factions in Cairo. But Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, has objected to stopping attacks, and Israel has dismissed any halt to violence that does not include settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Egypt is trying to find a road out of the vicious circle between Israel and the Palestinians," says Hala Mustapha, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "A lot of effort needs to be exerted by the Palestinian side to assure that negotiations could be resumed."

In what Jordanian analysts saw as a belated and modest bid at influencing the elections, Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher last week held a highly publicized meeting in Amman with leading Israeli doves Yossi Beilin and Yossi Sarid to start a series of contacts with Israeli political parties. "Our influence is limited but we cannot just sit and wait," says Mr. Barari.

"The Israeli public needs to receive the message that we want to deal with Labor, that we cannot deal with Sharon," he says. "And if there are no suicide bombings before the election, that can also affect the mood, so that people will not vote for Sharon out of a fearful reaction."

But that is a big if, not only now but after the elections. "I'm not really sure the Egyptian intervention can be 100 percent effective, since no one has complete control over all the armed Palestinian factions," says Mr. Mustapha. Two weeks ago, as Egyptian mediation efforts continued, the militia of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction carried out two bombings in Tel Aviv that killed 23 people.

Leith Shbeilat, a former member of the Jordanian parliament who is highly critical of the government, said: "Maybe, maybe Mitzna could make a minor difference, but we tried others before and they were all similar to Sharon."

He condemned the effort to halt suicide bombings in Israel.

Page: 1 | 2