Israel's Kadima party is leading the parliamentary election by a narrow margin over former premier Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, TV exit polls say.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima party is leading the right-wing Likud with a 2-seat margin in Tuesday's parliamentary election, it was announced Tuesday night.
In the 120-member parliament, Kadima has won 30 seats, while her main rival Netanyahu has garnered 28, Israeli TV Channel 10 reported.
However according to Najib Shurab, an Al-Azhar University professor, whoever comes to power will never work in favor of Palestinians.
Najib Shurab, a political science professor at the Gaza branch of the university, said that both parties are one bloc that work against the Palestinians.
However, more educated Palestinians see the nuances between the parties that will derail the peace process, Shurab added. They will resume attacks against Gaza and "maybe won't respect agreements concluded with the Palestinians," he was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying.
He went on to say that it would be a victory for the resistance movement Hamas in Gaza if Kadima and Labor both fail to gain an outright victory. It would also prove to the Israeli public that neither party was able to increase its popularity, despite the recent campaign against Hamas in Gaza, he explained.
Meanwhile Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat is pessimistic about the possibility of any new Israeli prime minister forging peace with the Palestinians.
Erekat made the statement as the Israeli exit polls were being announced, showing the centrist Kadima party's Tzipi Livni winning with a narrow 2-seat lead over the rightist Likud party's Benjamin Netanyahu.
Source: Press TV and JP