For Arafat, Barak was the obvious choice

GAZA [MENL] -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat urged Israelis on Monday to vote for the candidate that would bring peace to the region.

Asked by reporters what he would tell Israeli voters, Arafat said, ``To elect peace.'' He did not elaborate.

Palestinian Authority sources said Arafat was intensely interested in the outcome of Israel's elections. PA-aligned media have followed the election story to exclusion of nearly every other story.

Palestinian newspapers on Monday said the elections -- which pitted incumbent Likud Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against Labor Party challenger Ehud Barak -- represented a barometer of the future of the peace process. "Today poses a true opportunity for the Israelis to prove to what degree they want a better future for the next generation,'' the Al Quds daily said. "Israelis should know now, more than at any time before, the connection between progress in the peace process and internal Israeli issues such as economics and security."

Akram Haniyeh, editor-in-chief of the PA-aligned Al Ayyam daily and an adviser to Arafat said Israelis have the choice of voting for Netanyahu and returning to violent confrontations with the Palestinians or for a Barak, who has declared "money for education not for settlements.''

Palestinian Authority officials have made no secret of their dislike of Netanyahu. They have called him the chief obstacle of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

PA officials said Netanyahu's campaign was based on scaring Israelis from any peace efforts with the Palestinians. "We don't want to interfere in the elections," said PA minister and senior negotiator Saeb Erekat. "But we regret that Netanyahu is using these tactices. It looks like the scare tactics used by Netanyahu have crossed all limits."

But Palestinians remain wary of Barak. They said that behind his political facade Barak will be a tough negotiator and will make demands similar to that of Netanyahu. "The choice between Barak and Netanyahu could be that of between Pepsi and Coca Cola," the Al Ayyam daily said on Monday.

Columnist Hafez Bargouthi wrote in the Al-Hayat newspaper "while the departure of Netanyahu won't be missed, it should not be replaced with optimism toward Barak."