The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday the next Israeli government should meet international obligations to continue with peace negotiations. "Regardless of the form of government that will emerge ... we have the same expectations," Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Salam Fayyad told reporters. "We imagine that the expectations of the international community (towards Israel) will be the same as ours," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
A bloc of right-wing parties appeared to have secured a majority in Tuesday's elections. "Steps have to be taken to end the occupation that began in 1967. This should mean immediate implementation of key provisions and obligations that the government of Israel had assumed previously," Fayyad added. He listed these as a freeze on Jewish settlement in all territories Israel occupied in 1967, a redeployment to positions before the Palestinian uprising in 2000 and lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the rulers of the Gaza Strip, said the Israeli vote outcome will bring more extremism. "The election results show the Zionists are leaning towards more extremism, crime and terrorism against the Palestinian people and they do not know the language of peace," said Hamas official in Gaza Mushir al-Masri. "That requires our people and our factions of resistance to unite and to stick to the choice of resistance and Jihad, which the only choice capable of putting an end to Zionist extremism," he stressed.
