In Sharon's absence, anxiety plagues region

CAIRO, Egypt — Many Arabs revile Ariel Sharon as a warmonger, yet his sudden absence from the Israeli helm Thursday spread anxiety across the Middle East — concern that things probably won't get any better without him and could get a lot worse.

Militant Palestinians living outside the West Bank or Gaza were particularly gloomy.

"There isn't any political solution on the horizon, neither in Sharon's presence, nor in his absence so long as the Israeli policy is dependent on the United States," said Maher Taher, the representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Damascus, Syria.

Khaled Mashaal, political leader of the radical Hamas group in Syria, said the collapse of Sharon, whom he called a "war criminal," would have no effect on Palestinian policy because "we don't link our agendas to ... changes in Israeli political life."

But Sharon's health crisis cast doubt on the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections, a bellwether of regional political sentiment.

Even before Sharon was stricken, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas suggested the vote might be delayed, citing what most saw as the convenient cover of Israel's refusal to allow East Jerusalem Palestinians to vote.

The Israeli crisis could provide another excuse.

Abbas' mainstream Fatah movement is forecast to take a drubbing from Hamas — the sponsor of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis — which has joined the political contest for the first time.

Not surprisingly, Mohammed Nazzal, a Hamas official in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, warned against postponing the Palestinian balloting.

"Sharon's absence removes from the political scene a professional killer who mastered the murder of Palestinians and addressed the most violent, brutal and bloody strikes [against Arabs] in the history of the Arab-Israeli struggle," he said. "The Palestinian people can only hope that what is coming is better, not worse."

The editor of a Beirut newspaper said he feared Sharon's absence from the scene could lead to more Israeli-Palestinian violence as well as a postponement of the election.

"This is a big event," said Sateh Noureddine, managing editor of Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper. If Sharon dies, it "could lead to the postponement of the Palestinian elections and the Israeli elections and possibly could lead to a security deterioration."

Reaction to Sharon's stroke was also strong on the streets.

In Damascus, Hassan Abdel-Karim, 50, said he was glad Sharon was sidelined "because he committed horrific crimes against the Palestinian people."

He was not optimistic about Sharon's successor "because the Zionist mentality cannot produce a man of peace."

While some Palestinian and Arab hard-liners rejoiced over Sharon's illness — one called it a gift from God — Arab media were largely restrained. Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channels, carried extensive and mainly straightforward reporting.

The television accounts also gave considerable time to Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin as he explained the situation inside Israel.

And in a surprisingly positive segment, Palestinian commentator Ghazi al-Saadi told Al-Arabiya that Sharon was "the first Israeli leader who stopped claiming Israel had a right to all of the Palestinians' land," a reference to Israel's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

"A live Sharon is better for the Palestinians now, despite all the crimes he has committed against us," he said.

Moderate Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi praised Sharon's strength and charisma but criticized his politics.

"Sharon was a strong and charismatic leader who steered the politics toward the right and extremism," Ashrawi told Al-Arabiya.

"Now it is clear that Israel needs a leadership that proceeds strongly toward peace, or else the extremist right will hijack the situation."

Associated Press reporters Hussein Dakroub, Zeina Karam, Albert Aji and Dale Gavlak contributed

to this report.