Although the exit polls before Israeli election hinted at victory for the centre-leftist Zionist Union, the last minute aggressive anti-Palestine stunts helped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to emerge victorious, proving what the huge section of Israeli people think about Palestine issue.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the elections, which Reuters termed as ‘come-from-behind victory’, with his Likud party winning 29-30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, comfortably defeating the Zionist Union opposition on 24 seats.

Analysts have predicted that Netanyahu’s victory might overshadow the long-standing two-state theory as he made a series of promises to go on building settlements on occupied land and make sure that there would be no Palestinian state if he was re-elected.

Anti-Palestine stance appeared to be very strong among pro-settlement and ultra-orthodox sections of Israeli voters who were immediately attracted by Netanyahu’s explicit opposition to the State of Palestine.

Reasons behind Netanyahu victory:

During much of the campaign, Netanyahu had focused on security issues and the threat from Iran’s nuclear programme, a message that appeared to gain little traction with voters.

But Netanyahu’s move to the right, playing up fears of the spread of Islamist groups, promising no concessions to the Palestinians and raising alarm about growing support for Arab-Israeli parties, looks to have spurred his base into action, reports Reuters.

BBC, on the other hand points at another factor that led Netanyahu to become prime minister for the third time. It was said that the grim warnings from him about the consequences for Israel if he lost since Arabs with Israeli citizenship were voting.

He also made a series of promises that would worsen Israel's relations with the US and Europe if he continues as prime minister. He promised thousands of new homes for settlers in the occupied territories, and said he would not allow the Palestinians to have a state.

From the Palestinian point-of-view, however, the election results are a deep concern, raising the prospect of more settlement expansion on land they want for their own state in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s victory and future Israel

On the other hand Netanyahu’s victory is also likely to prolong the country’s testy relationship with US President Barack Obama, especially after his strident words on settlements and his backing away from the long-stated international goal of arriving at a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel that collapsed in April, told Reuters on Tuesday: “Mr. Netanyahu has done nothing in his political life but to destroy the two-state solution.”

The third consecutive term of office may not be quite smooth for Netanyahu, who, as predictions swirl about across international media, if follows through on his pledges it would put him on a collision course with the Obama administration and the European Union, which has been weighing steps including trade measures to sanction Israel for its settlements policy.

Besides the Palestinians may quickly create problems for him too as they will formally become members of the International Criminal Court on 1 April and have said they will pursue war crimes charges against Israel over its 48-year occupation of the West Bank and last year’s war in Gaza.

Video: Palestinian poeple's response to Netanyahu win-