The New York Times · 25 June 1992

CP-1992-023

Palestinians Critique Election, and See Basis for Hope

By JOEL GREENBERG, Special to The New York Times

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Transcribed from the clipping

BETHLEHEM, Israeli-Occupied West Bank, June 24 — On streets and in shops, in restaurants and offices throughout the occupied territories today, Palestinians chewed over the results of Israel’s election and expressed hesitant hopes that the Labor Party’s victory might bring them closer to peace.

Many watched the returns throughout the night on television, and their delight at the defeat of the rightist Likud Party was evident. But their satisfaction was tempered with a heavy measure of caution. At Al Bashir restaurant on the main road into Bethlehem, customers agreed that the victory of Yitzhak Rabin and the Labor Party was a good thing.

“Labor is more capable than the Likud of promoting the peace process,” said George Zeineh, a grocer. “The question is whether they can stop wavering and find the courage to seize this golden opportunity.”

“We haven’t forgotten that they built settlements and confiscated land when they were in power, and Rabin ordered soldiers to break the bones of Palestinians during the intifada,” Mr. Zeineh added, referring to the Palestinian uprising. “Despite that, I believe Labor can now play a positive role.”

“The main thing was to get rid of the Likud,” said Khalil Salaam, from the village of Beit Safafa. “Labor can do better.” In an East Jerusalem barbershop, a customer at first dismissed the election results. “Likud and Labor are the same,” said the customer, who declined to be identified.

But on second thought he added: “Labor is a little less difficult than Likud, and if Mr. Rabin carries out what he says about reaching an understanding with the Arabs and stopping settlements, it will be good. We have some hope.”

Ali Yaish, editor of a nationalist paper in East Jerusalem, Al Shaab, said that “we’re very careful about a real change.” But he added that he had a “sliver of hope” that there might be a step forward to Palestinian autonomy in the occupied territories.

An editorial in another Palestinian newspaper published in East Jerusalem, the pro-Jordanian An Nahar, echoed this reserve, arguing that there was no fundamental difference between Mr.

Rabin and the outgoing Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, since both reject Israeli withdrawal from all of the occupied territories, a Palestinian state, and talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Some Palestinians recalled that Mr. Rabin, as Defense Minister, had ordered house demolitions and deportations in an attempt to put down the uprising.

But the P.L.O. and Palestinian delegates to the Mideast peace negotiations welcomed Mr. Rabin’s victory. The spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the talks, Hanan Ashrawi, said in a radio interview in Jordan: “It looks like the peace process has been rescued from from the Likud’s attempts at sabotaging it.

It looks like there is a definite majority for Labor and leftist parties in order to engage on issues of substance, especially dealing with the transitional phase. Hopefully they will stop all settlement activity, and we will launch our own elections for Palestinian self-government.”

How this transcription was made

Transcribed from the slide scan by a reader working off magnified crops, not by optical character recognition. The clipping carries no masthead and no folio. The newspaper is printed on it twice — in the credit line “Special to The New York Times” under the byline and in the credit at the foot of the locator map. The date is derived from the printed dateline of 24 June together with the date of the Israeli election the article reports, 23 June 1992.

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