Press Review: What They Said About Palestinian Elections

"Less than two weeks after the passing away of Yasser Arafat, a new impetus has been injected into peace efforts - and the results have been surprising at times and remarkable at others," said Arab News on Monday. And the unexpected figure of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, was at the heart of the process.

"His most recent claim that the Palestinian leadership no longer has to tackle 'militant groups' in order to hold talks with Israel ... has shaken the foundation upon which Israel has based almost its entire Palestine policy," explained the Saudi daily.

Not that all in Israel thought Mr Sharon's was the right line to take. "Suppressing the terrorist threat from a number of Palestinian groups ... is the first step for negotiations leading to a resolution of the conflict to proceed," said Moshe Arens in the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz. But would the Palestinian leadership be willing to take action against such groups? "Progress toward peace in the area hinges first and foremost on the answer to that question."

The Lebanon Daily Star noted that Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, who visited the region this week, and the US and UN envoys to the Middle East had all asked Israel to facilitate Palestinian presidential elections by taking a softer approach and withdrawing some troops and roadblocks from the occupied territories. If Israel agreed, said the paper, "the onus will be on the Palestinians to ensure such gestures do not dissipate in the wind ... [And] the Palestinians must press their case and ... [show] that these Israeli 'concessions' are, in fact, the minimum that should be expected in the lead up to [the elections on] January 9."

But how worthwhile would those elections be, wondered Saul Singer in the Jerusalem Post. "Palestinians, whether or not Hamas runs, will presumably have a choice between leaders who claim to represent a two-state solution, and those who openly advocate Israel's destruction."

And there is a further problem: "There could be a catch-22 in which it is impossible to hold free elections without a crackdown on the jihadis, and yet impossible to carry out such a crackdown without the legitimising boost of elections."