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'Hamas has to change'
27/01/2006 19:48 - (SA)
Davos - Leading Palestinian and Israeli economic figures at the World Economic Forum on Friday said that Israel and the Palestinian Authority would have to find some way to work together after Hamas's election victory yesterday.
"Israel has an interest in seeing a viable Palestinian economy and the Palestinian economy is heavily dependent on Israel's," said Joseph Bachar, director-general of Israel's ministry of finance.
"Israelis and Palestinians will have to co-operate somehow, but there will be practical problems in dealing with a government that doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist," he continued.
Hamas took 76 out of 132 seats in the poll, beating the ruling Fatah faction. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has announced he will ask the militant group to form a new government.
"This is a wake-up call and protest vote against what has been happening in the region," said Mazen T Sinokrot, minister of economy of the Palestinian Authority. "Hamas will have to revise its tactics as it assumes the responsibility of government."
"People should remember that the PLO changed its charter, which once called for the destruction of Israel," he continued.
Avishay Braverman, president of Israel's Gurion University of the Negev, was more pessimistic about the election results.
He said that the peace process had failed and that Israel would not negotiate with a government that advocates violence and calls for the demise of his country.
Mohammad A Mustafa, Chief Executive Officer, Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), Palestinian Territories, raised an economic point, saying that it would be a challenge to keep people paid and employed.
A viable Palestinian economy could change the situation, he added, but a lot would depend on a dynamic Palestinian private sector that enjoyed movement of goods and people, with access to the rest of the world.
- SAPA
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