The reaction of Arab governments to the election in Israel was generally cautious while official media expressed deep apprehension.
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr Rafiq Hariri, spoke for most Arab governments when he said that the Israeli Prime Minister-elect, Mr Ariel Sharon, would be judged by his policies rather than his past.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Amr Moussa, suggested that the new Israeli leader might soften his hardline stance once he came to power. The Jordanian Foreign Minister, Mr Abdul Illah al-Khatib, said that continuing the peace process would be the key test.
Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II was compelled to reassure his cabinet that a triumph for Mr Sharon would not lead to the destabilisation of the kingdom which, Mr Sharon has repeatedly asserted, should become the "Palestinian state".
Arab newspapers and broadcasters expressed shock and alarm over his victory.
The Syrian daily al-Baath said: "The election of Ariel Sharon is a declaration of war. Israel has chosen a path of escalation and terror."
Since Mr Sharon has often stated that he is not prepared to withdraw from all the Arab territory occupied in 1967, al-Baath concluded: "There is no room for negotiations for the time being." It recommended to Arabs that they "should provide all possible support to the Palestinian uprising," the Intifada. The Syrian news agency called Mr Sharon a "man of blood" and said that peace will be achieved only "if Syria is strong".
The Jordanian al-Aswaq took a similar line, asserting, "Extremism rules Israel today" and Egypt's mass circulation al-Akbar wrote that the "only conclusion possible is that the Israeli people do not want peace".
Newspapers in the United Arab Emirates called for Arab solidarity and a strengthening of the Palestinian Intifada as the means to defeat Mr Sharon. The most widely read paper, the liberal al-Khaleej, editorialised: "Israel has dropped [Prime Minister] Ehud Barak's mask to show its real face by electing Sharon . . . From now on the initiative is in the hands of the Arabs, who must express their soldarity in deeds rather than slogans." The official al-Ittihad of Abu Dhabi ran the headline, "Torturer Sharon Elected Prime Minister" and observed that his plan to break the back of the Intifada would fail.
The most dramatic reaction to Mr Sharon's election came from Lebanon, which was invaded and occupied in 1982 in accordance with a plan devised and implemented by Mr Sharon. His troops stood guard while 2,700 Palestinians were massacred by Christian allies in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. The Lebanese Information Minister, Mr Ghazi al-Aridi, yesterday predicted that Mr Sharon would launch a military adventure against Lebanon and Syria.
"This man is obsessive [about war] and full of hatred. He will end his life by [taking] revenge" for Israel's humiliation by the Hizbullah-led resistance movement which drove Israeli forces from south Lebanon last May, he said.
Hizbullah's deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, drew an unflattering comparison between Mr Sharon and Mr Barak. "They are both butchers but the difference between them is that Sharon is a butcher in wolf's clothing and Barak is a butcher in sheep's clothing."
