Mixed reaction in Mid-East

2004-11-03 18:38

Cairo - With America's hawkish President George W Bush headed for a likely second term in office, the US election produced mixed reactions and a dose of caution in the troubled Middle East on Wednesday.

While Israel and the US-backed interim leaders of Iraq were confident a second term for Bush would signal more of the same policies, the Palestinian leadership out of favour with Washington could not conceal its concern.

Most countries in the region, however, opted for caution after the White House claimed victory for the incumbent but challenger John Kerry refused to concede defeat.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was upbeat.

"Whoever is the winner will be our friend. The United States has liberated us from a dictator and a very long period of war and agony," Allawi said in an Italian newspaper interview published on Wednesday.

An inexperienced new team under Senator Kerry would be worse than maintaining the status quo, officials and politicians in Baghdad said.

"We know that Bush has an overall vision for Iraq, he overthrew Saddam Hussein and liberated the country and I think he wants to see the job done," said Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, a special advisor to the interim government.

The likely re-election of the man who decided to invade Iraq in March 2003 comes as US-Iraqi forces are braced for a military assault on the rebel bastion of Fallujah.

Predictably, the election prompted contrasting reactions from the main protagonists in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Buoyed by unequivocal pre-election messages of support from both candidates, Israel was confident it would preserve its special relationship with Washington regardless of the vote's final outcome.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he did not expect Israel to come under any heightened US pressure over the dormant peace process.

"So far we have cooperated with all American administrations and we will continue to do so. I don't think pressure will be necessary, Israel wants to advance on the road to peace," he said.

But according to Israeli army radio, a foreign ministry report has predicted that Washington will step up pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to dismantle Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority's envoy to France admitted that veteran leader Yasser Arafat, being treated in Paris for a serious but undiagnosed illness, was "worried".

Arafat "hopes the second mandate will be different" if Bush is confirmed the winner of Tuesday's election, Leila Shahid told AFP.

Echoing a generally negative Palestinian stand towards Bush, deputy parliament speaker Hassan Khreisheh said that "neither Bush nor Kerry spoke about the Palestinian question during their campaign".

"Bush has only served to isolate the Palestinian leadership and block the peace process," he said.

- AFP