Headlines across the world are saying Hamas Sweeps Palestinian Elections. Do the citizens know what they just did? They just elected a TERRORIST government!! This means that Syria, Iran and the Palestinians now have terrorist governments. This can not be good. Most, if not all, of them want Israel out of the Middle East. I can't wait to see what Jon Stewart says about this but with Hamas in power, there can be no peace talks at all. Israel does not negotiate with terrorists and neither do these United States of America. I'm in disbelief just like the rest of the world.

The Islamic militant Hamas group swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah party on Thursday in Palestinian parliamentary polls, a political earthquake that could bury any hope for reviving peace talks with Israel soon.

The shock outcome, acknowledged by Fatah ahead of official results, does not automatically unseat President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate elected last year after Yasser Arafat's death. But he has said he might resign if unable to pursue a peace policy.

"Today we woke up and the sky was a different color. We have entered a new era," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said after Hamas announced it had won more than 70 seats in the 132-member parliament in Wednesday's election.[...]

With peace negotiations stalled since 2000 and Israel and Hamas bitter enemies, Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could opt for more unilateral moves, following last year's Gaza pullout, to shape borders on land Palestinians want for a state.

Olmert, who took over from Ariel Sharon after the 77-year-old leader's January 4 stroke, suggested as much in a speech this week in which he repeated peace talks could not resume unless the Palestinian Authority disarmed militants.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington's view of Hamas as a terrorist group was unchanged after the poll. Hamas has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising began more than five years ago.

"As we have said, you cannot have one foot in politics and the other in terror," Rice said in broadcast remarks from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Rice telephoned Abbas to voice continued U.S. support, an Abbas spokesman said. Earlier, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie of Fatah and his cabinet quit in the face of the Hamas victory. Abbas asked him to stay on in a caretaker capacity.

The United States is the main sponsor of a long-stalled "road map" peace plan that charts mutual steps toward the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.[...]

Leaders of the European Union, the biggest aid donor to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, said Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel or risk international isolation.

Under Palestinian law, the biggest party in the 132-member parliament can veto the president's choice of a prime minister, effectively enabling Hamas to shape the next cabinet.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev declined comment amid reports that Olmert had told cabinet ministers not to speak out before top-level consultations on the Hamas win.[...]

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he would not deal with Hamas unless it accepted Israel's existence.

I'm glad George won't deal with them. Knowing what I do about them already, if they don't accept Israel's existence, we could have a world war on our hands very sooner than we'd like.