As the Palestinian elections proceed today, Hamas has a problem. They’ve spent all that money on a PR campaign to make them look more “moderate,” but their leaders are too stupid to get with the program and keep their mouths shut: Hamas goes to urns refusing to disarm.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Hamas, the radical Islamist faction behind a majority of attacks on Israel, vowed not to disarm or negotiate with the Jewish state if it enters the Palestinian parliament after the election.

Unbowed by international pressure to lay down arms if his party achieves the electoral success many predict, chief candidate Ismail Haniya said there was no contradiction between guns and democracy as he voted in a Gaza refugee camp.

“The Americans and the Europeans say to Hamas: either you have weapons or you enter the legislative council. We say (we will have) weapons and the legislative council, there is no contradiction between the two,” he said Wednesday.