Exit polls: New party breaks traditional powers

Vote considered referendum on future of West Bank

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 Posted: 2020 GMT (0420 HKT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's new centrist Kadima party was projected to claim the largest share of parliamentary seats in elections Tuesday, according to Israeli TV exit polls.

The election is widely considered a referendum on the future of Israel's borders. Since the West Bank was conquered in 1967, Israelis have settled inside that territory.

Before the election Olmert promised to remove, by force if necessary, as many as 90,000 Israeli settlers from the interior of the West Bank and place them closer to the 1949 armistice line that separates Israel from the West Bank.

Israelis trickled to the polls Tuesday to elect the new Knesset members, facing a future without popular Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- and with a Hamas-led Palestinian government on its borders.

Polling stations on Election Day, a national public holiday, were open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The election came on the same day that the Palestinian parliament approved a Hamas-led government by a 71-36 vote. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's government is scheduled to be sworn in Thursday.

Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist and is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and European Union.

Pre-election opinion polls in Israel showed the new Kadima party, led by Olmert, with an edge over traditional power holders Labor and Likud. (Watch why Israelis consider Olmert an enigma -- 3:05)

Sharon founded Kadima shortly before a debilitating stroke left him in a coma. The election is the party's first, and if Kadima wins, it would be the first time in Israel's history that a main left-wing or right-wing party did not capture the national vote.

No single political party in Israel has ever managed to win a majority of the 120 Knesset seats. All Israeli governments have been based on a coalition of parties, which was not expected to change after this vote. (Watch CNN's Guy Raz explain Israel's complex election system -- 1:53)

Each party leader made a final pitch to voters in comments in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

"We are extending a hand to our neighbors and looking for a partner to the path of hope and peace," Kadima's Olmert said, "but our other hand will continue to hold a sword and cut any attempt to harm Israel and its citizens."

Suggesting Israel will pull back from many West Bank settlements, Olmert said no Jewish settlements will remain beyond a security fence being constructed along the Israeli border.

Likud leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a peace through strength theme. "I know that many of you agree with our path: to combat terror with resolve, not to capitulate with further withdrawals," Netanyahu said. (Watch why the Likud party faces an uncertain future -- 2:28)

Under Sharon, Israel abandoned its Gaza settlements.

The Labor Party's Amir Peretz offered hope for a more moral and better country.

"The Labor Party headed by me aspires to give Israel not only physical borders which will bring an end to the conflict between us and the Palestinians but also moral borders," Peretz said.

Also Tuesday, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two Qassam rockets into southern Israel and a Russian-made Katyusha rocket as well. It's believed to be the first time the latter was fired by militants in Gaza.

The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Qassam rocket attack, Palestinian sources said.

The Katyusha rocket, which has a range of about 20 kilometers (12 miles), landed harmlessly after traveling only a few kilometers. Katyushas are more sophisticated than the homemade Qassams, which are considered crude explosives.

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