ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606030068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: JERUSALEM
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: lede
With the last ballots counted and his narrowest of triumphs confirmed, Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his cheek against the honey-colored stones of Judaism's most sacred site and prayed. A ram's horn blared to celebrate the election of a new, hard-line prime minister.
The final count: 1,501,023 votes for Netanyahu, 1,471,566 for incumbent Shimon Peres. The margin of 0.9 percentage points was so slender that the outcome remained uncertain for two days.
As messages of congratulation flowed in from around the world, including a telephone invitation from President Clinton to visit Washington, Netanyahu headed for the Wailing Wall.
A black skullcap on his graying hair, the nonobservant Netanyahu made the gesture to Israel's religious voters who were largely responsible for his victory.
His advisers, meanwhile, were busy assuring the Palestinians that peace talks would continue.
Netanyahu, 46, has promised to make security his top priority. He also pledged to slow the peace negotiations and renege on some of Peres' promises, such as withdrawing troops from the West Bank town of Hebron.
Netanyahu, who rode to victory on a wave of fear following four suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, has also pledged to give Israeli troops free rein in hunting down terrorists, even in Palestinian-controlled areas.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, clearly worried by such tough talk, convened his Cabinet for a special session.
In a statement issued early today, the Cabinet and the PLO Executive Committee said they respected the Israeli electorate's decision and appealed to the ``international community to increase efforts to push the peace process forward.''
The Palestinians urged Netanyahu to continue efforts toward peace and to adhere to ``everything that has been agreed upon, including the beginning of talks on the final status'' of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu won by 50.4 percent to Peres' 49.5 percent, reflecting the deep divisions in Israel over how to proceed with the peace process.
Noting that the U.S.-educated Netanyahu is not an ideologue, some Israeli commentators said the prime minister-designate would likely be more willing to compromise than his campaign slogans suggest.
The new government's policy will depend on whether Netanyahu will bring ultra-rightist and religious parties into his coalition, or seek an alliance with Peres' Labor Party. Netanyahu has 45 days to form a government.
Peres, 72, a visionary who told voters he would bring an end to the century-old conflict with the Arabs, reportedly is opposed to joining a Netanyahu-led government.
``I will struggle for peace, wherever I will be,'' said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, hugging a few teary-eyed young supporters outside his Jerusalem home.
Peres is expected to remain Labor Party leader for another year, but will likely leave to others the rough-and-tumble of fighting the opposition's cause in Israel's Knesset, or parliament.
Peres aides said that privately Peres was bitter about the defeat, feeling that his peace efforts were misunderstood. It was the fourth time he has seen election as prime minister slip from his grasp, a record that has earned him a reputation for being cursed.
Netanyahu did not claim victory Friday, apparently planning to hold off on the announcement until after the Jewish sabbath ends at sundown today.
Just before sundown Friday, Netanyahu was driven to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem's walled Old City.
Netanyahu walked into a special enclosure, pressed up against the large, worn stones, read from a small prayer book, his lips moving, and stuck a slip of paper into a crevice.
One ultra-Orthodox Jew blew a ram's horn, a gesture usually reserved for special religious holidays.
Netanyahu won the overwhelming support of religious voters after leading rabbis endorsed him. Among Jewish voters, Netanyahu was ahead by 11 percent, while 95 percent of Israeli Arabs backed Peres.
About 19,000 Israeli Arabs voted for Netanyahu. About 20,000 others cast blank ballot slips, apparently in protest against last month's bombing of Lebanon in which dozens of Lebanese civilians were killed.
In a separate vote for Israel's 120-member Knesset, both Likud and Labor suffered major losses. Likud's joint slate with the Gesher and Tzomet parties dropped from 40 to 32 seats, while Labor is now at 34 seats, down by 10.
After the results were announced, Netanyahu received telephone calls from Peres, Clinton, French President Jacques Chirac and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Netanyahu's chief adviser on foreign policy, Dore Gold, called Mohammed Abbas, the No. 2 in Arafat's Palestinian Authority, and told him Netanyahu was committed to the peace process.
Under the accords, Israel handed control of two-thirds of Gaza and one-third of the West Bank to the Palestinians, with a promise to pull back more troops over the next 18 months. Talks on the final status of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem began in May.
Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian negotiator, said Arafat was ready to work with the new Israeli leader.
``The ball is now in Mr. Netanyahu's court, and it is really up to him to show his people and the world that he really cares about this peace,'' Shaath said.
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not actually claimedby CNBvictory, has pledged to slow the talks with Palestinians. color