Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei' and his cabinet, most of which are Fatah, announced their resignation following the January 25th Palestinian elections. With a voter turnout of 77% preliminary results gave Hamas a substantial victory, taking 76 of the 132 seats, and proving that pollsters were clearly off in their predictions which favored a Fatah majority.
Whose predictions of what the Hamas victory will mean in the future will be proven wrong?
Before the election Palestianian President, Mahmoud Abbas was "hoping Hamas will be tamed by mainstream politics, that the day-to-day duties of government -- such as running schools, hospitals and garbage collection -- will lead to pragmatic change within the group." But does a militant terrorist group change because it is elected?
According to the Israeli online news site Ynet, Hamas leader Mahmoud A-Zahhar continues to say that they will not change "a single word in their covenant" calling for the destruction of Israel, and that they would continue their path of 'resistance' in the West Bank even as they serve in the parliament. A-Zahhar said, "Hamas will not turn into a political party. Hamas plays in all fields. It plays in the field of resistance...The issue of weapons is related to the occupation. We will not receive dictations from Bush or anyone else…"
The Media Line reports President Bush's initial response to the election: "In his first reaction to the Palestinian elections, U.S. President George W. Bush told the Wall Street Journal that he would not negotiate with Hamas until the terror group renounces its desire to destroy Israel. A political party must support peace, and must act peacefully." And acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas members.
In order to overcome their negative image, Hamas hired a savvy PR expert to give them a makeover, which raised the obvious question: "How much of it is for real, and how much of it is a cynical ploy to grab power, then revert to big-time terrorism? Given Hamas' history, extreme skepticism is in order." The terrorist organization paid a media consultant $180,000 "to persuade Europeans and Americans that it is not a group of religious fanatics who relish suicide bombings and hate Jews."
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