There are people starving in the siege, there are children traumatized and terrified. There are men women and children dying. This is a situation that has reached the proportions of a tremendous humanitarian crisis. It is a tragedy and every minute that passes we lose lives and more people are brutalized and traumatized.

We need to stop Sharon. His lethal policies are drawing blood on both sides. That's why we need a serious intervention -- international troops. And we need to end the occupation if there is to be security for both people.

It's not just a question of numbers. There will be more women (in parliament) who are conscious of women's rights ... There will also be women who are not committed to equality.

Sharon was a strong and charismatic leader who steered the politics toward the right and extremism. Now it is clear that Israel needs a leadership that proceeds strongly toward peace, or else the extremist right will hijack the situation.

Hamas played the negative opposition, in a sense, because it formed an alternative source of power without any mandate from the people. Now, Hamas has that mandate and it wants to form a national unity government. I say, let them form a government and let them accept the fact that they will have opposition.

You can't simply redefine Jerusalem. The Palestinian claim is based on legality, on the international recognition that the situation created by the war in '67 is not valid.

We know what they say, they want all of Palestine (including Israel) and say that negotiations did not work. They talk about wanting reform. That doesn't mean they will do it.