Arabs reacted predictably to Monday's landslide election victory by the Labour leader, Mr Ehud Barak. Those most concerned, the Palestinian citizens of Israel, welcomed both Mr Barak's success and the doubling of their own representation in the Knesset.
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, offered Mr Barak his "best wishes". Dr Saeb Erekat, a leading member of the Palestinian negotiating team, captured the optimistic mood of the Palestinian Authority when he drew the distinction between the outgoing prime minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mr Barak. "The difference is that in Mr Netanyahu we did not have a partner in peacemaking, while we have a partner in Mr Barak. It does not matter if he is a tough negotiator as long as he is prepared to negotiate."
But Dr Erekat warned that the Arabs could not agree to the first three of four "red lines" laid down by Mr Barak as Israel's opening position in settlement negotiations: exclusive Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem; no return to the borders of June 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the Syrian Golan; the retention of "most settlements"; and a ban on foreign Arab military forces west of the Jordan river.
"We can no longer accept dictation," Dr Erekat stated, expressing concern that the collapse of the peace process could produce a "Kosovo situation" in the Middle East.
The head of East Jerusalem's embattled Palestinian community, Mr Faisal Husseini, said he hoped Mr Barak had accepted the message of the Israeli people who had refused extremist politics. Mr Husseini called on Mr Barak to stop settlements and proceed swiftly with the redeployment of Israeli troops from the West Bank, in implementation of last October's Wye River Memorandum.
The leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states which have concluded peace treaties with Israel, were also upbeat. Mr Amr Moussa, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, said his country was ready to help Mr Barak revive the peace process to change the "extremely poisoned" atmosphere created by Mr Netanyahu.
In Jordan, where 60 per cent of the population is of Palestinian origin, shares rose across the board in the financial market and ordinary people celebrated by offering traditional sweets. The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Marwan Hmoud, said everything depended on whether Mr Barak could energise the peace process and reach reasonable agreements on outstanding bilateral issues.
Damascus, Beirut and Tehran dismissed the poll result. Although Mr Barak pledged to pull the Israeli army out of south Lebanon within a year, the Prime Minister, Mr Selim al-Hoss, had little hope that this commitment would be met. "There's no difference between one Israeli candidate or another. We should remember that most Israeli wars against Arabs were led by Labour Party leaders," Mr Hoss said.
The former prime minister, Mr Rafiq Hariri, remarked: "We should not bet our future . . . on elections in a country that still points its rifles at us."
