"Don't be afraid?"

Some Hamas officials tried to reassure the world of its intentions: "Don't be afraid," Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, told the BBC. "Hamas is a Palestinian movement, it is an aware and mature movement, one which is politically open in the Palestinian arena, and to its Arab and Islamic hinterland, and similarly open to the international arena."

Winston Churchill must be turning over in his grave. At the end of WWII, he was confident that the West would forever be able to impose terms on Palestinians and their Arab supporters:"I'm committed to creation of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. Let us go on with that; and at end of war we shall have plenty of force with which to compel the Arabs to acquiesce in our designs. Don't shirk our duties because of difficulties. ..." Churchill confidential notes, July 2, 1943.

This election seems to say that he was wrong. Half a century later, nobody seems to have "acquiesced" and expectations are not on that direction, taking into account some comments on the media before the elections:

According to Hamas candidate Yasser Mansour, Hamas still wants "Palestine from the river to the sea" -- and believes in retaking the land from Jordan to the Mediterranean, including Israel. (Jan. 17)

In the British Guardian newspaper, Hamas’s Zahar is quoted again claiming all of Israel:"It's our land," said Dr Zahar. "Nobody among our sons and grandsons will accept Israel as a legal state. ... Israel is a foreign body. Not in this generation, not in the next generation, will we accept it here." (Jan. 10)

And on Palestinian television, Zahar said:We do not recognize the Israeli enemy, nor his right to be our neighbor, nor to stay [on the land], nor his ownership of any inch of land. ... Our principles are clear: Palestine is a land of Waqf [Islamic trust], which can not be given up. (Jan. 17, translated by Palestinian Media Watch).