Hey Israel and America, your plans failed miserably! I remember when Bush said “today the Palestinians are having a democratic election” but that was before they found out about the results of that Democratic election. You see, that’s the problem in a free democratic elections, people can vote for whom they believe will best represent them and best further their cause, which, in the Palestinian world is freedom from Israeli aggression, a free Palestinian land, return of stolen land, and the 2 year siege lifted. So who are you going to vote for? The guy who lived in America and is acceptable to Israel, Bush and Obama? The guy who will give away everything and get nothing? Seriously, learn from Ireland here. The harder the US and England tried to destroy Sinn Fein the more support they got.
Obama and Israel need to learn a hard lesson; you cannot pick and choose who you negotiate with. You must show your support for the democratic process and negotiate with those whom the Palestinian people elected, not those who are your puppets and will give you the best deal. And given that Hamas support is rising yet again, meet your new negotiating partners.
Excerpts from breaking news article on latest polls in Palestine:
Palestinian support for Hamas rises after war
A MAJOR new poll of Palestinians has shown a strong increase in support for the militant Hamas group following the 22-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
It shows a significant increase in support for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while a fall in support for the more moderate, Western-backed Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority.
The poll was taken by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research and involved a sample of 1270 adults in face-to-face interviews in 127 randomly selected locations. It has a 3 per cent margin of error.
The poll comes at a time of major flux in Palestinian politics -- the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, tendered his resignation suddenly this week saying he was doing it to make it easier to establish a unity government.
Hamas has been strongly opposed to Mr Fayyad, as were some old guard elements in Fatah who resented his efforts to make their financial affairs more transparent and put an end to corruption. Mr Fayyad, a former economist with the World Bank who lived in the US for some years, was an ally of Mr Abbas.
The poll gives both Palestinians and Israelis the first indication of the reaction of Palestinians to the Gaza war.
Israel's leadership had hoped Palestinians would lay much of the blame at Hamas, which had refused to stop firing rockets into southern Israel.
The poll finds: "Positive evaluation of the performance of Salam Fayyad's government declines from 34 to 32 per cent during the same period while positive evaluation of the performance of Mr Haniyeh's government (in Gaza) increases significantly from 36 to 43 per cent.
"Moreover, it seems that public perception of the ending of Abbas's term in office is leading 27 per cent to believe the legitimate president today is the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and 24 per cent to believe there is no legitimate president today, while only 39 per cent believe the legitimate president today is Abbas."
Mr Abbas's term technically expired in January, so the legitimacy of his presidency is questioned by some. The poll found that 35 per cent believed Mr Haniyeh's government was the legitimate one while only 24 per cent said Mr Fayyad's government was the legitimate one.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25168216-2703,00.html
Now, if america cannot recognise Hamas as duly elected to represent its people,and therefore have a mandate, then why should Hamas recognise whom America or Israel elects.
