re: #853 Alouette

If they are such a “small minority” how did they get such an overwhelming majority of votes?

And by the same token, the Israeli leftist party of Meretz embodies all the policies that cordell insists are embraced by a “majority” of Israelis, but they can’t even get elected to one seat in the Knesset.

Have you payed attention to the Palestinian elections at all? You do realize that the way Hamas won the elections was because they transformed themselves into a social services organization within Palestine. They provided food aid, employment assistance, medical care, and many other services in Gaza. That is why they won the election. Also, Fatah was pilloried as being full of corrupt assholes who simply sought to enrich themselves without actually benefiting the Palestinian people.

Yes, Hamas is still a terrorist organization. But you must realize that they gained the support of the Palestinians because of the ineptitude and corruption of Fatah. A vote for Hamas was not explicitly a vote for the continuation of terror.