Justus For All

CNN

The Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, which has said it favors the destruction of Israel, won an apparent victory in Palestinian legislative elections, officials said Thursday, reshaping the political landscape of the Middle East.”We have lost the elections; Hamas has won,” said Saeb Erakat, a Palestinian lawmaker with the ruling Fatah Party. He said Fatah, which has held power since the creation of the Palestinian Authority, will now be the opposition.

Hamas and Fatah supporters scuffled Thursday outside the Palestinian parliament building when Hamas supporters attempted to raise the green Hamas flag.

While this will certainly cause a lot of trouble, I remain optomistic overall.  I think Hamas will be forced to moderate it’s stance somewhat.  Most important, is that Fatah will apparently leave power peacefully, which is a pretty big step.

Many seem to believe that the Hamas victory was fueled by corruption and incompetence of the Palestinian leadership, rather than an expression by the Palestinian people for an escalated conflict with Israel.  I don’t know it that is wishful thinking or not, certainly it seems to me that the PA has been quite corrupt and a housecleaning was needed.  It is disappointing though that the only viable parties in Palestine are militants.

If we could work with Arafat and Abbas, I see no reason we can’t work with Hamas.  In one way it will be refreshing, Hamas is a least honest about it’s intentions.