Palestinian Elections

Today is an important day in the life of the Palestinian people. At 8 am the doors to the election centers all over the West Bank, Gaza and in Jerusalem were opened, and people started flooding in to cast their voice. How envious I am of that, as a Palestinian (half) I wish that I was there, to feel that excitement, to know that what I was doing would change the course of my life, and the life of my people. This is only the second election to take place in the Occupied Palestinian territories since the creation of the Palestinian Authority, in 1994. The amount of parties and candidates that are put forward is also an amazing thing, not only do they all seem to have a platform but also they represent all aspects of society. What I am also enjoying is the fact that there are women in most of the party lists.
What makes these elections even more important, as I am sure a lot of you are aware, is the fact that Hamas is joining in! What a shock that was for a lot of people, and also quite confusing...how can an organisation that states its purpose is to liberate its people, to create a country called Palestine using armed resistance. For this kind of orgnaisation to want to join the political world, a world where it will have to negotiate with the enemy, where it will have to sit across the table from them and try and get things from them through negotiation...seems quite odd to me.
Yet I guess that is the whole point of politics, its to be able to adapt to change, to be able to move with the times. Yet when does that change from pragmatism to opportunism. Some scholars have been saying that Hamas has had this planed all a long, that all its resistance and fighting was to get to this stage...some even go as far as saying that Hamas is just another Fateh, that what it is going though now Fateh went through years ago, and that they will all end up at the same stage. I don't know if I agree with that, but what I do find strange and confusing is that Hamas still talks about wanting to resist and to fight, yet how can you be in government, go to negotiations with Israeli officials and then state that you want to fight them? Am I being to narrow minded, am I not allowing this orgnaisation to develop and change, to maybe change the rules of the game, where one can be a resistance army and at the same time work to get some benefits for its people...maybe what Hamas wants to do is to negotiate with Israel on things like prisoners of war, refugees, water rights, things like that.
What is also interesting is that there are people and countries that are terrified that Hamas might actually win a lot of seats. One of these people, surprisingly is Mahmoud Abbas, who is quoted on the Aljazeera webpage saying: "that five years ago he would never has expected this movement to have such a huge following, he went on to say that part of the responsibility for this popularity falls on Fateh." Another of course is the United States and Israel, who have been making threats that if Hamas wins seats that is might stop funding, or to re-occupy areas of Palestine. There is a rumour-which Fateh has denied-that the United States government paid them over $2 million to help with their campaign. I guess this is not the point, what is so interesting is what will Hamas do when it is in power, when it has to create a government in coalition with Fateh...how will they be able to work with each other, or maybe a more appropriate question is will they be able to work together?