If you’ve ever said …

If you’ve ever said that it’s not the Palestinian people that hate Israel, just their government…

…if you’ve ever said that the Palestinians just want to live in peace with the Jewish state…

… if you’ve ever had any illusions about what it would take to get peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East…

…this is your wake-up call.

The Islamic militant Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections, winning 76 seats in the 132-member legislature, election officials said Thursday. The rival Fatah Party, which controlled Palestinian politics for four decades, won 43 seats.

Hamas, classified by the US, the EU, Canada and (obviously) Israel as a terrorist organization, has a one-party majority in the Palestinian parliament. What they say, goes. As a reminder, here are some selected quotes from the Hamas Charter (courtesy Wikipedia):

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

“After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

Any group who’s charter is founded on paranoia arising from a hoax like the “Protocols” is not a stable group. And any country that votes them in as a clear majority of their government, given Hamas’ view on the existence of Israel, cannot be simply said to be a people misrepresented by their government. It’s not just the fanatics and the nut cases affirming the mission of Hamas, it’s a majority of the people.

There are arguments to be made on both sides of the issue regarding whether Sharon should have evicted Jews from Gaza. But one good thing that came out of it was the opportunity to put a magnifying glass onto the actions of the Palestinians and their real motives.

The world has been put on notice. Is anyone listening?

Not surprisingly, Iran is thrilled.

(Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.)

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