Palestinians have reacted with alarm following Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's announcement of a new coalition government which will include a far-right party some of whose members have called for the forced removal of Palestinians.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday said the "radical elements" in Israel responsible for the murder in 1995 of then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, with whom he signed peace accords, were "now participating in the government of Israel".
Ariel Sharon signed up the extreme-right wing National Union to form a new coalition government in Israel yesterday. The new coalition indicates a sharp swing to the right, something that is likely to cripple his ability to make peace with Palestinians.
Sharon's Likud party said in a statement a coalition deal would be signed later today comprising the centrist Shinui party, the ultranationalist National Union party and the National Religious Party (NRP).
Sharon, whose right-wing Likud party won the general election in January but failed to secure a majority, will now lead a coalition with 68 seats in the 120-seat parliament.
The inclusion of the extreme right-wing parties will increase pressure on Sharon to take an even tougher line against the Palestinians and could make it even harder for international mediators to end 29 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Sharon, who turned 75 on Wednesday, is expected to present the coalition to the Knesset on Thursday. The government's main tasks are to tackle the Palestinian uprising for an independent state and mounting economic problems.
Palestinians have already criticised the Likud-Shinui-NRP line-up as a government that would expand settlements and wreck any chance of renewing peace talks.
They became even more alarmed after the National Union's adhesion, with MP Hanan Ashrawi charging the new coalition was "very dangerous".
"It is a very dangerous government, made up only of a group of racist extremists that have never stopped calling for the expulsion of the Palestinians," Ashrawi told journalists.
Such a government "will not help at all to open the way for the peace process, and the policies of these parties will further complicate the situation given that they do not recognize Palestinian rights," Ashrawi said.
AFP,