From his sick bed, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat congratulated Bush, saying he hopes Bush will help bring peace to the Middle East. Just a couple of hours later there was deterioration in Arafat’s condition, and according to Israel’s Channel Two television, the Palestinian leader was moved to an intensive care unit at the French military hospital outside Paris. Although there has been no official announcement yet, diplomats in the Middle East and Washington are sending strong signals that 75-year-old chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization is in fact already dead.

Arafat, who has been ill for three weeks, was flown to a French military hospital on Friday after passing out briefly at his West Bank headquarters. Arafat’s death could possibly have far-reaching consequences that might lead the U.S. leaders to reevaluate their role in the face of potential escalation of the violence in the Middle East.

Earlier and predictably, the U.S. election prompted contrasting reactions from the main sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Israel was confident a second term for Bush would signal more of the same policies, the Palestinian leadership, out of favor with Washington, was cautiously hopeful things might change.

“President Arafat wishes President Bush success in his second term and congratulates him for winning the confidence of the American people,” senior aide Mohammad Rashid said on Wednesday in Paris.

“President Arafat hopes that Bush's second term will be an important opportunity for Bush to secure the requirements for peace in the Middle East and to guarantee the just national rights of the Palestinian people,” said the aide.

But breaking the traditional rules of protocol, Leila Shahid, the Palestinians’ permanent envoy to Paris, voiced different view. In a statement before Senator John Kerry conceded the election, she said she was worried by the prospect of a second term for Bush, because he had conducted what she called “a policy of war.” Arafat “hopes the second mandate will be different” if Bush wins, Shahid added.

For his part, Ghassan al-Khatib, a Palestinian minister, expressed hope that Bush would soften what the Palestinians consider to be a systematically pro-Israeli policy. “Perhaps this election will offer a chance to the Bush administration to draw a lesson from the experience of the past year, given that it will be freed from the pressure of elections and lobbies,” said the labor minister.

The Palestinian radical movement Hamas took a hard line. “It does not really matter that much to us who is president of the United States,” said spokesman Mashir al-Masri, “but we ask that Bush stop his support for the Zionist enemy. If America persists in its negative position vis-a-vis the Palestinians, we will consider it and its president as enemies.”

On the other side of the fence, buoyed by unequivocal pre-election messages of support from both candidates, Israel was confident it would preserve its unique relationship with Washington regardless of the vote’s final outcome.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he did not expect Israel to come under any heightened U.S. pressure over the dormant peace process. “So far we have cooperated with all American administrations and we will continue to do so. I don't think pressure will be necessary. Israel wants to advance on the road to peace,” he said.
Despite Mr. Shalom’s statement, a report conducted by his office—and released just before the U.S. elections—claimed that Israel stood to lose regardless of the election’s outcome. The report determined that either candidate would likely increase the political pressure on Jerusalem.

According to the report, which was recently submitted to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, if Bush were re-elected, he would have to face up to the situation in Iraq and try to boost his image in the Arab world—two factors that would lead to a less friendly policy towards Israel.

Top Israeli foreign policy advisor Zalman Shoval said on Wednesday that Bush’s re-election would further strengthen ties between the two countries and would facilitate Prime Minister Sharon's plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005.

Shoval congratulated Bush, saying, “Israel and the free world have every reason to rejoice over this result.” Shoval, the former ambassador to the U.S., also said “That's not to say that Kerry would have been a bad president, but Bush's victory has been seen by some as a victory over terrorism.”

“It’s important to understand,” wrote Professor Uzi Arad, former national advisor for Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, in an Israeli newspaper, “that if Bush would have lost, the symbolic headline all over the Middle East would have been: ‘Bin Laden Won.’”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a close ally of the U.S, said he hoped Bush would exert more effort to bring about “a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East by establishing a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel.” the London-based Arab daily “al-Sharq al-Awsat” reported that the President Mubarak is planned to visit Arafat in the Paris hospital.

Mubarak expressed hope that Bush would do more to “rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction.” He also urged Bush to continue combating terrorism and violence, but by “dealing actively with its root causes” and helping “to overcome the political, economic and social problems facing people” around the world.