Yahoo News - Hamas Win Unsettles Peace Process
AP reports, "Hamas won a huge majority in parliamentary elections as Palestinian voters rejected the longtime rule of the Fatah Party, throwing the future of Mideast peacemaking into question, officials from both major parties said Thursday." [Covenant With Many, Daniel 9:27]

Commentary: What does the Hamas victory mean for the Mideast peace process? It means that Israel no longer has a partner in peace now that the Palestinians are officially ruled by a terrorist organization. While some might say that having terrorist leaders is nothing new for the Palestinians, the actual election of Hamas, a group which has carried out terrorist attacks and whose goal is the destruction of the state of Israel, represents a new and remarkable self-identification by the Palestinian people with terrorism. Many in the West, particularly in Europe, have long tried to tell themselves that the Palestinians genuinely desire peace and will accept the "two-state solution" to the Mideast conflict. With the electoral victory of Hamas, the West no longer has the luxury of inventing a Palestinian persona that does not represent the reality on the ground. The Palestinians are now jihadists, by self-definition, just like al-Qaeda. This means that the "peace process" and the pursuit of a final status agreement (the "covenant with many" of Daniel 9:27, probably a regional security agreement) is derailed for the time being. Israel will accelerate the disengagement process and the building of the barrier wall, while world leaders will demonstrate their resolve (or lack thereof) in isolating and marginalizing the new Palestinian leaders. The time when Israel lives securely without walls (Ezekiel 38) seems far off indeed.