Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's conservative Likud party stepped to victory in the Israeli Parliamentary elections Tuesday.
Voter turnout for the election was the lowest in the country's history, due to what many observers said was a sense of hopelessness among the Israeli people.
\We have a historic triumph ... but this is not the time for celebrations,"" Sharon said following the election.
Early exit polls showed the Likud party winning 36 seats, 17 more than its previous total, in the 120-member Knesset. Since the party did not win a majority, it must create a coalition with another party.
Members of the leading opposition Labor Party said before the election they would not join with Sharon and the Likud, but Sharon reached out to the Labor Party after he won.
""Israel needs unity; Israel needs stability,"" he said.
According to UW-Madison graduate student Ethan Katz, an observer of Israeli politics, if the Labor party does not agree to form a coalition with the Likud party, Sharon will be forced to seek affiliation with other right-wing groups. Katz said many of those groups are non-secular and more intent on keeping the West Bank part of Israel.
""There's pressure on Labor to make a secular coalition, but Labor did promise they were not going to join Sharon's government, so it seems unlikely they would,"" Katz said.
UW-Madison senior and member of the Madison-Israel Public Affairs Committee Robyn Sotolov said a coalition with the Labor party would help the peace process.
""There's the saying that it took Nixon to open up China. I wouldn't outlaw the possibility of peace talks with Palestinians if there's a right-wing government, but personally I think the chances are better if there's a coalition,"" she said.
Sharon's victory did not come as a surprise since polls before the election placed him in the lead. His opponent, Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna, advocated letting go of Jewish settlements on the Gaza strip and holding peace talks with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
Sharon took a harder line against the Palestinians, said UW-Madison history professor David Morgan, who has lived in Israel in the past.
""There's no question ... he won't negotiate with Arafat,"" Morgan said. ""It's not altogether clear whether he wants to negotiate with anybody.""
Morgan said even voters who would not have agreed with Sharon before now think he is the best chance for security in the country.
""The majority of Israelis are now concerned much more with stopping the suicide bombing and their own security inside the settlement and occupied territories in Israel, rather than looking further ahead to a long-term settlement,"" Morgan said.
Violence continued to hurt the region during the elections, continuing a 29-month-old conflict with Palestinians. Israeli helicopters hit targets in Gaza, killing four Palestinians in the West Bank and another in the Gaza strip.
