Palestinian Exit Poll Results Are In - Hamas Gets 30% of the Vote!

What an interesting day. The Palestinians have been to the polls and according to exit polls Fatah should win the majority vote of 42%. Hamas comes in at a close second with approximately 30% of the vote. Should we be happy with this result? On the surface it seems that the choice for the Palestinians was either Fatah, a terrorist organization, or Hamas, a worse terrorist organization. I guess it's better that Fatah won.

With that said I do think that there is reason for optimism. Just the fact that an election was successfully completed is a welcome change. It seems that for the first time Democracy is a real possibility for the Palestinians. Democracy forces a society to look inward as well as outward for solutions for their problems. It also generally helps to encourage the genuine exchange of ideas between the sides. For the first time the Palestinians had a real hand in choosing in the people that will shape their future.

While I don't particularly like the fact that a terror group like Hamas was allowed to participate in the elections I am hopeful that with time the Palestinians will hear new more reasonable and moderate ideas from some of the other political parties. No matter how you look at it democracy is a good thing. I also don't think there is any real room for the terrorists to become any worse they have always been. I am cautiously optimistic for a peaceful future for the Israelis and Palestinians.