Feature: Gazans lament dim peace prospect with Israel

The 32-year-old Gaza Strip resident Abdul Rahman Hammad voiced carelessness and not very much interested in the results of the Israeli parliamentary elections due on Tuesday, although the elections are decisive for Gaza and in particular for the Palestinians in general.

Hammad told Xinhua that he did not see or notice any differences between the various Israeli parties, who race for the formation of a new Israeli government, mainly in terms of the growing violence and military escalation Israel practices against Palestinians.

The Gaza salesman said he believes that the Israeli elections "are just a differentiation between an enemy and another enemy," adding "all Israeli parties unite under one strategy and one policy which is to be as much as criminal against us and undermine establishing a Palestinian state."

The status of carelessness is the general mood and feeling of the vast majority of populations in the Gaza Strip, simply because the people here had only seen tragedies and pain throughout three wars Israel waged on the enclave since 2008.

Tawfeeq al-Hessi, 53-year-old resident of Shatti (Beach) refugee camp in western Gaza city, also told Xinhua that all the Israeli parties racing in the elections "are the same and there is no difference between them in terms of their strategies towards the Palestinians."

"We have not seen anything good from the Israelis except hostilities, killing, destruction, and displacing the Palestinians and occupying their lands," said al-Hessi, who complained of very difficult living conditions over the past dozens of years, adding "Israel is fully responsible for our tragedies."

He went on saying that he cannot believe that peace would be possible one day with the Israelis "even if a new government is formed in Israel instead of (Benjamin) Netanyahu's government." However, he said "We hope that one day a real peace will be achieved with a real Israeli partner."

Maid Abu Khater, a female student at Gaza al-Azhar University, agreed with al-Hessi and told Xinhua that she follows the Israeli elections on TV, adding "in fact I have no positive expectations that lead to having hope and then there will be a change because all competitors are hostile to the Palestinians."

"All the Israeli parties racing in the Israeli elections unite in one position which is denying the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. We got used to this policy since the establishment of the state of Israel on the expense of our legitimate rights."

There are 26 parties are racing in the elections, and the party garners the highest number of seats will contact other Parties for forming the new government. Last December, the Israeli parliament or Knesset agreed to go for early elections on March 17.

The Palestinian factions, meanwhile, express no hope that the results of the elections in Israel would lead to a real dramatic change in the political situation.

Fatah official Faissal Abu Shalha told Xinhua "We do not expect much after the elections; since the beginning of the occupation and the start of the peace talks, many Israeli governments, leftist, centrist and rightist, have taken office, but we never felt a difference between any of them in terms of negotiations and reaching a settlement."

He stressed that the Palestinians "do not bet on any Israeli party because all Israeli parties unite against the rights of the Palestinian people."

Bassem Na'eem, a senior Hamas movement leader, where his movement has been controlling Gaza since 2007, warned of betting on the Israeli left-wing to beat the right wing, adding "such a bet is illusive because the experience of having useless negotiations for so many years is a good example."

The elections are held in Israel as the peace process has been stalled since last April. And in the last several months people had witnessed an escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Talal Oukal, a Gaza political analyst, told Xinhua that the Palestinians "want to see the Zionist Camp Party winning (the elections) in order to resume the peace process."

"The populations and the leaders of the various political Palestinian factions believe that there is no difference between one party or another in their united strategy against the Palestinians," said Oukal, adding "they believe the Israeli policy is to keep obstructing the establishing of a Palestinian state." Endit