MIDDLE EAST: Mr Sharon's immediate response to Mr Abbas's electoral victory was to reiterate his long-standing demands, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem.
Newly-elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas may have won a landslide victory in Sunday's election, but his ability to win the legitimacy of his people and establish himself as the true successor of Yasser Arafat depends - in no small measure - on the generosity of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
During his election campaign, Mr Abbas spoke of the need to end corruption in the Palestinian Authority and to reform its numerous security arms, but he also emphasised his opposition to attacks on Israel and said a more effective way of achieving Palestinian national aspirations was via negotiations with the Jewish state. There has been talk already of a meeting between Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon, but the new Palestinian leader's aides are hesitant, fearing it will be purely ceremonial.
For good reason. The last time the two leaders met was during Mr Abbas's brief, and ultimately abortive, sojourn as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2003. One of the main reasons for his resignation and his lack of public support - apart from incessant clashes with Mr Arafat - was Mr Sharon's refusal to grant him any meaningful concessions.
When, for instance, Mr Sharon did finally release several hundred security prisoners in Israeli jails, it left a bitter taste in the mouths of most Palestinians and undermined Mr Abbas: none of the long-serving prisoners were among those released; most were prisoners whose terms were close to being completed or Palestinians who had been arrested for being in Israel without a permit.
Mr Sharon's tune was unchanged yesterday. His immediate response in the aftermath of Mr Abbas's victory was to reiterate his long-standing demand that the Palestinian Authority dismantle armed groups, end suicide bombings and stop the firing of makeshift rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
"The Palestinians are still not fighting terror and, while (Mr Abbas's) declarations in the framework of the election campaign were encouraging, he will be tested by the way he battles terror and acts to dismantle its infrastructure," the prime minister said.
But Mr Abbas's greatest problem could be Mr Sharon's growing tendency towards unilateralism and his unenthusiastic response to the prospect of negotiations with the Palestinians. After declaring that Mr Arafat was not a partner for peace talks, Mr Sharon last year announced his unilateral withdrawal plan that includes the dismantling of all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank.
Since Mr Arafat's death, Mr Sharon has expressed some willingness to co-ordinate a withdrawal with the Palestinians, but he has never spoken seriously of a return to the negotiating table. The Palestinians want to find a way to connect the Gaza withdrawal to a return to the internationally-backed "road map" for peace in the Middle East, but Mr Sharon, despite his public declarations of support for the plan, has never liked it. Those views haven't changed.
While Mr Sharon has undergone a remarkable transformation - the one-time architect of the Jewish settlements is about to take a wrecking-ball to some of his handiwork and become the first Israeli leader to dismantle settlements in the West Bank and Gaza - the differences between him and Mr Abbas on the issues at the heart of the conflict are still vast. Mr Sharon is opposed to a Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza, to East Jerusalem as a capital of such a state, and to the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees - all demands that the new Palestinian leader would bring to the table.
Mr Sharon will know, however, that Washington views Mr Abbas as a moderate with whom it can do business and will be keen for him to succeed. President Bush extended an invitation to the White House to the new Palestinian leader yesterday.
Not wanting to disappoint the Americans, Mr Sharon may be prepared to make some concessions to Mr Abbas in the coming months, including the easing of travel restrictions in the Occupied Territories and maybe even the release of Palestinian security prisoners. If, however, Mr Sharon ultimately refuses to be dragged back to the table for substantial negotiations, Mr Abbas will lose public support and his term in office could again be brief.
Not that Mr Sharon's prospects of serving out his second term as prime minister look all that promising. He managed last night to win a majority in parliament for his new government, but only with the support of a far-left party and an Arab party - both in the opposition - after a third of the deputies in his own ruling Likud party, who strongly oppose dismantling settlements, voted against the new coalition. The opposition deputies backed him because they support his Gaza plan.
Mr Sharon won narrowly, 58-56, but with his party deeply split, it's not clear that his new coalition - cobbled together with the express purpose of carrying out his withdrawal plan - will survive until the summer when the evacuation is meant to begin.