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Source: http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/isr2.php
Power Will Not Moderate Hamas
(bitterlemons.org) Martin Kramer - * Hamas entered parliament with an absolute majority in its first election with its militia, its guns, and its ideology intact. Its speedy and sweeping ascent has simply validated its past militancy. * It has achieved, in 20 years, what the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has not achieved in 80 years. * The Hamas concept of victory through "resistance" delegitimizes Israel's peace with Egypt and Jordan. * Hamas will devote its rule to achieving three goals: 1. It will seek to consolidate its grip over the institutions of the Palestinian quasi-state, at the expense of Fatah. 2. It will move gradually to Islamize Palestinian life. (Last year, a poll showed that two-thirds of Palestinians believe Islamic law should be the sole source of legislation.) 3. It will write its own "roadmap" in Palestinian consciousness, leading away from a two-state solution. For that purpose, Hamas will make the media and the schools into extensions of the mosques.