The Jerusalem correspondent for Al Jazeera English, Jacky Rowland, hosted a live chat session about the Israeli election on Livesation on Sunday 8 February.

Our chat moderation team has sent over this edited transcript of the hour-long chat.

GS: I really don’t think it matters who gets elected in Israel. They are all the same. Not interested in peace. They want the establishment of Greater Israel.

Jacky Rowland: That’s what many ordinary Israelis fear. More of the same. As for the Labour party, they are suffering from disillusionment among Israelis about the peace process. It’s sad but true that Israelis don’t believe in peace in the way they used to, they fear it’s not possible. Labour was promoting the peace line – now they are promoting a “we’re into peace but we’re also tough on security line”. It’s a case of the left in Israel needing to find a new voice, a new message for voters. And some people who would normally vote Labour are afraid that this would be a wasted vote.

Abu-Azzam: Do they have liberal party in Israel and if so, what do they stand for?

Jacky Rowland: There’s not a liberal party as such. There are some left wing parties – notably Meretz, but it’s very small these days. There is also a green party, a pro-cannabis party, a holocaust survivor’s party, a pensioner’s party. No shortage of parties in Israel.

Mjismail, Birmingham: Do you think that the comments from politicians such as Netanyahu regarding Iran, are simply rhetoric for the elections, or do you think that the comments are serious?

Jacky Rowland: Netanyahu is going for the “fear” vote. A lot of politicians are doing that. Lieberman is another one. Fear exists in Israel – they think that promising a tough hand, to defend people against the “bogey man”, can win votes, but Israel is no way going to nuke Iran without the say-so of the US, which looks more unlikely now that Obama is in office.

GS: Jacky, do the Israelis really think that they are going to get peace by killing so many innocent Palestinians.

Jacky Rowland: the Israelis tend to think that there are “good Palestinians” and “bad Palestinians”. The good Palestinians" are the Israeli Palestinians, people who hold what they call “Blue IDs”, These guys work at the gas station, at the supermarket, they speak Hebrew. They are “good Palestinians”. Then the Israelis have the “bad Palestinians” – i.e. Hamas. As for swearing the oath, this is because the Israelis are determined to maintain what they call “a solid Jewish majority for generations to come”. Israelis are afraid of being the minority in a state controlled by someone else, so they want to make sure that they are always the majority and want to get Israeli Palestinians to vow that they are faithful to Israel and aren’t intent on destroying the Jewish state. For Israelis, it is a question of survival…or at least, that’s their argument.

Il risorgimento: what about Shas and divisions among Israeli religious groups based on geographical origin?

Jacky Rowland: They are key, because they can be the deal-makers in a coalition. They are small, but they can make a difference in the coalition maths. Interestingly, the main religious party, Shas, just said that a vote for Lieberman (right wing but not religious) would “strengthen Satan”. They want the education ministry because it’s a chance to influence society at the roots – young people, children. Shas want to make Israeli society as religious as possible. It’s controversial, because Israel was established as a secular state. Secular Israelis are dismayed at the rise of religious parties.

GS: Jacky: Is there anyone in there who realises that if peace is the objective, then they are going about it the wrong way.

Jacky Rowland: Israelis want security. A majority also want to end the occupation. The problem is that a majority also doesn’t trust the Palestinians to run the West Bank in a way that wouldn’t damage Israel’s security. They saw what happened in Gaza, rockets and all that.

Peace: Jacky would you talk to Hamas?

Jacky Rowland: I have talked to Hamas many times, whenever I go to Gaza.

Salaun: Has the left-wing in Israel been weakened by the rockets from Gaza?

Jacky Rowland: Some cynics in Israel point out that every time a rocket is fired, Lieberman gets more support. They say (joke) that maybe Lieberman is paying for the rockets, since he profits.

Viewer: Jacky, What is Netanyahu’s stand on Syria?

Jacky Rowland: Netanyahu says that under him, Israel would hang on to the Golan Heights. That could just be election talk, populist stuff.

DutchInTheDesert: But Jacky what will change for Abbas after the elections?

Jacky Rowland: Abbas needs to win his own elections, which have been delayed. Abbas’s problems go far beyond the outcome of the Israeli elections. He presides over “Half a Palestine” and for many Palestinians he is discredited, tired, and associated with the old “corrupt” Fatah.

Matt: Jacky what do you think about Barghouti being mentioned as possibly being released in a deal for Shalit? How will that affect the situation?

Jacky Rowland: The Barghouti question is very interesting. He’s kind of “The Great White Hope” for many – although of course it’s always easy to idealise someone when they aren’t actually in power. Many Israelis would like to see Barghouti released, because they think he would be a “real partner” for peace negotiations.

Salaun: Jacky: If there is a two state solution. How do the Israelis see the Palestinian state in terms of borders.

Jacky Rowland: The Israelis are counting on holding on to big settlement blocs, especially those around Jerusalem, so they think it would be “67 borders, plus”.

Viewer: Jacky, Why are many Arabs boycotting the Israeli election if they have the right to vote?

Jacky Rowland: I am not so sure that Arab voters will boycott. There are a few prominent Israeli Palestinians who say, boycott, but others say, hey no! They point out that they are about 15-20 per cent of the population, so if Israeli Palestinians vote, then their voices will be heard and they can make a difference.

Peace: Jacky when will the results of the election be known?

Jacky Rowland: The results, more or less, will be known in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the official results won’t be published for another week, because some people vote away from home, like soldiers who are allowed to vote in special ballot places.

Redsea: Jacky Rowland what do you think of the 1967 borders?

Jacky Rowland: Actually, I think the 1947 UN-proposed borders offered a better deal to the Palestinians. But clearly other Arab countries didn’t like that proposal.

MJB NEW: Will Israelis accept a single state solution, with all having equal rights?

Jacky Rowland: The Israelis say "NO’. Earlier on, I was answering another question, in which I explained that Israelis want what they call “a solid Jewish majority” for a long time to come.

MJB NEW: Jacky, is Israel putting operational limitation to Al Jazeera?

Jacky Rowland: we haven’t seen our operations impacted in anyway by apparent Israeli decision to somehow diplomatically “sanction” Qatar.

Viewer: Jacky, how do you report in Israel assuming that you don’t know Hebrew?

Jacky Rowland: correct, I don’t speak Hebrew, however I have Hebrew-speaking producers and Arabic-speaking producers who work with me. Also, most Israelis speak English. And those who don’t may speak French or German which I speak fluently.

Lunarts: Jacky, how do you think the US government will approach Israel after the elections, Is there a chance that Obama has decided to wait for these elections to change politics?

Jacky Rowland: Obama is still viewed with a certain amount of caution in Israel. People are not sure what to make of him yet, but the young folks love him. I don’t think we’ll see any big switch in US policy towards Israel. The US-Israel relationship is something that kind of transcends Democrat – Republican differences, but, many Palestinians are hoping that he will be more even-handed than President Bush.

Mjismail, Birmingham: Will AJE have a special news programme on the Israeli Elections?

Jacky Rowland: Yes Al Jazeera will have loads of special programmes for the elections. We have a special presenter who has come to town, Sami Zeidan. He will front the elections special.

AJI_moderator: Jacky, there have been a couple of questions about ‘recession in Israel’ – is the economy an election issue?

Jacky Rowland: The economy is an election issue, like everywhere in the world, but in Israel – the “fear” vote is a bigger factor than the "economy.

Salaud: Jacky, do you make interviews with voiceless Jews too? Are there any?

Jacky Rowland: As in all societies, there is a kind of hierarchy in Israel. It often depends on at what stage different communities arrived. What tends to happen, is that the “old timers” look down their noses at the “more recent arrivals”. So, back in the 1950s, the Ashkenazis who had been in Israel a long time looked down their noses at the new Moroccan arrivals. Then along came the Ethiopian Jews, and people looked down their noses at them. Then, in the 1990s and since, loads of Jews arrived from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan, and, you guessed it, the others looked down their noses at them. In answer to your question about voiceless Jews, I’d say that the Ethiopian Jews don’t have much of a voice.

David Betesh: Will giving Shalit back make Hamas “look weak” in the eyes of the Palestinians?

Jacky Rowland: It would depend what Hamas got in return. If they got Marwan Barghouti out in exchange for Shalit, and if they got all the crossings open as well – then Hamas could say they got “good value” out of Shalit.

DutchInTheDesert: Do the new settlers have any kind of consideration for the Palestinians or do they just shove them aside?

Jacky Rowland: Settlers come in different varieties. There are the hard-line ideological settlers who reckon it is their god-given right to live in the West Bank. Then there are the settlers who moved to places like Pisgat, Zeev and Gilo because real estate was cheaper than in Jerusalem. So, in answer to your question, the “economic” settlers could reach some kind of accommodation with the Palestinians, but the “ideological” settlers reckon “God gave us this land so you lot get out”.

Mariansblog: Will we ever hear more voices from pro-peace women leaders and groups?

Jacky Rowland: There has been a lot of controversy in the election campaign about outright sexism in lots of the way that the Livni campaign has been dealt with by opponents, even Israeli journalists. Definitely a chauvinistic society. There are women who are active in pro-peace activities, like Women in Black and Machsom Watch. but they suffer from what I was talking about earlier i.e., that Israelis by and large have lost faith in the peace process.

David Betesh: Jacky, whatever happened to the “Peace House” in Hebron?

Jacky Rowland: The “peace house” was forcibly evacuated in December. Since then, folks have been so preoccupied with Gaza war and now elections that it may just be possible that some of the settlers snuck back. I don’t know that, but settlers often try to sneak back to places they were kicked out of, once the publicity has subsided.

Redsea: Why don’t you interview some of those crazy settlers and show it on Al Jazerra? Why don’t you give us a picture of the extreme elements within Israel. Extremism exists within Israel just as it does within Gaza.

Jacky Rowland: We do give picture of extreme elements in Israel. I have covered stories of settlers being booted out of houses in Hebron. I always wear a plastic coat because the settlers throw urine and excrement. Is that a clear enough picture for you?

Liberal: What is the percentage of Israeli’s that will go to the polls?

Jacky Rowland: The guess is about 65 per cent turnout.

Mariansblog: Is any election group monitoring the Israel election?

Jacky Rowland: No, no election group like OSCE monitor these elections.

AJI_moderator: We’re almost done here, thank you everyone. Good to see you all here

Jacky Rowland: Thanks all of you.