Peace in the Middle East is near!

[Tigermike 3,051]

Now the true peace loving aspirations and agenda of the Palestinian's will be seen.

Hamas sweeps Palestinian election

Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:55 AM ET

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - The Islamic militant Hamas group swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah party on Thursday in Palestinian parliamentary polls, a political earthquake that could bury any hope for reviving peace talks with Israel soon.

The shock outcome, acknowledged by Fatah ahead of official results, does not automatically unseat President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate elected last year after Yasser Arafat's death. But he has said he might resign if unable to pursue a peace policy.

"Today we woke up and the sky was a different color. We have entered a new era," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said after Hamas announced it had won more than 70 seats in the 132-member parliament in Wednesday's election.

Official results were due around 7 p.m. (1700 GMT)

With peace negotiations stalled since 2000 and Israel and Hamas bitter enemies, Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could opt for more unilateral moves, following last year's Gaza pullout, to shape borders on land Palestinians want for a state.

Olmert, who took over from Ariel Sharon after the 77-year-old leader's January 4 stroke, suggested as much in a speech this week in which he repeated peace talks could not resume unless the Palestinian Authority disarmed militants.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington's view of Hamas as a terrorist group was unchanged after the poll. Hamas has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising began more than five years ago.

"As we have said, you cannot have one foot in politics and the other in terror," Rice said in broadcast remarks from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Rice telephoned Abbas to voice continued U.S. support, an Abbas spokesman said. Earlier, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie of Fatah and his cabinet quit in the face of the Hamas victory. Abbas asked him to stay on in a caretaker capacity.

The United States is the main sponsor of a long-stalled "road map" peace plan that charts mutual steps toward the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

Commentators in the Arab world predicted pragmatism would eventually prevail, with Hamas softening a position that now calls for the Jewish state's destruction and Israel forging contacts with a new Palestinian powerhouse on its doorstep.

In the streets of Gaza, Hamas activists embraced, fired guns in the air and handed out sweets.

VETO

Leaders of the European Union, the biggest aid donor to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, said Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel or risk international isolation.

Under Palestinian law, the biggest party in the 132-member parliament can veto the president's choice of a prime minister, effectively enabling Hamas to shape the next cabinet.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev declined comment amid reports that Olmert had told cabinet ministers not to speak out before top-level consultations on the Hamas win.

A senior Fatah official said it appeared Hamas was propelled to victory by public frustration over the mainstream faction's failure to achieve Palestinian statehood and anger over years of corruption in its institutions and in the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas officials held out the possibility of a coalition with Fatah and other parties -- and reaffirmed the group's commitment to what it calls armed resistance against Israeli occupation, as well as its opposition to negotiations with Israel.

Hamas's politburo chief Khaled Meshaal telephoned Abbas to affirm "a commitment to partnership with all the Palestinian forces, including the brothers in the Fatah movement".

But Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official, rejected any coalition with Hamas, a group that Abbas had said he hoped to bring into the political mainstream and persuade to disarm.

Although Hamas's charter calls for Israel's elimination in favor of an Islamic state, its armed wing has largely respected a truce negotiated by Abbas and Egypt nearly a year ago.

In the wider Middle East, the Hamas victory was seen as strengthening the hand of those who favor democracy even at the risk of removing authoritarian Arab governments which themselves face Islamist opposition movements sympathetic to Hamas.

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he would not deal with Hamas unless it accepted Israel's existence.

Voting in Wednesday's election was orderly despite weeks of armed chaos. More than 400 candidates ran locally in the first parliamentary elections since 1996. About 900 foreign observers, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, were present.

Three exit polls had forecast a slim Fatah victory in the election. Turnout was 78 percent of the 1.3 million voters.

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[AURaptor 1,126]

Could someone point out on a map where Hamastan is located? I tried Google, and I still can't find it.

[Captain Liger 0]

Could someone point out on a map where Hamastan is located? I tried Google, and I still can't find it.

214726[/snapback]

Don't waste your time, it probably won't exist anyway within the next 6 to 12 months.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

I think there will definitely be peace... between Hamas and the nutjob in Iran, Israel is going to have enough, and blow them both to molecules.

[TrueBlue72 0]

What we actually may see.... and maybe should encourage.... is civil war in "Palestine". Just keep helping out whichever side is losing until there are so few left that it doesn't matter!

The only real solution to the mideast problem is the elimination of those who advocate the elimination of Israel and the US. What it will eventually come to it "us or them" and it seems to be getting closer to that each day.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Here's a profound quote from Scott Adams, the guy who draws Dilbert cartoons:

You know the old joke about the dog that chases cars – “What would he do if he caught one?” I was reminded of that when I read that Hamas won an election victory. I imagine a room full of Hamas leaders looking at each other behind closed doors and saying, “Oh crap, we won.”

And I imagine the Israeli leaders sitting around behind closed doors and saying, “It just got a lot easier to find the people we want to kill.”

I have to think it will be difficult for Hamas to reconcile the whole “destroy Israel” platform with “We’ll all be at the Parliament building at noon talking about how to do it.”

I’m writing this on Thursday the 26th. I predict that Hamas will start softening their position by the time you read this. Or maybe they’ll wait a few weeks just to make it seem like they thought about it. But it’ll happen.

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[WarTim 3,457]

I hope I am wrong on this, but, I do not think that Israel will allow the Iranian "nuke" situation to stand. It would be my guess that the US or Israel will make air strikes within the next few months...maybe sooner.

It is a tough situation over there and I ask that all who will pray for these countries and these people.