Marinate your chicken first

For decades, Fatah - the party founded by the late Yasser Arafat - has totally dominated electoral politics, but that time is over. The likelihood of a resounding victory for Hamas - which is committed to the destruction of Israel - sent shockwaves though the Jewish state. Yes, I do understand the worries of the Israelites. But the truth is, that the decades of violence and uncertainty in that region might now have a chance to find a turn towards betterment. The blindfolded commitment of the US towards Israel, both money wise and other, will now be in question and the leverage the US and European countries had towards Palestine has ceased- which will finally leave Israel free to find it's own destiny and renew its identity without a "big brother." Maybe that is a good thing. Sharon (still in a coma I believe) intuit this development and thus ordered (he after all was a military man and a strategist) the withdrawal from occupied territories, not to punish settlers, but to make sure that in a long range plan the borders of Israel would be secure.
Condi Rice stated that there would be no negotiations with Hamas who now in her own words have "one foot in terrorism and one foot in politics." Israeli sources verbalized similar sentiments and Bush today made an embarrassing press appearance concerning these new developments. Whatever these first reactions might indicate, the truth of the matter is that down the road negotiations will be inevitable. Hamas, similar to the IRA in Ireland, will not give up its weapons easily. But as they (Hamas) will now be involved in a political process, reconsiderations of how to go about things. Perhaps violence will now become less and less an act of random desperation killing innocent people, but an action of deliberate strategic consideration (as Israel has done successfully in the past). And maybe it will sink into some knuckle-heads that blowing yourself up results in indefinite rejection by Allah.
Far from that I subscribe to violence, but in the long haul Palestine and Israel might find a way to co-exist - if not, we will be witness to the "Third World War" with our own eyes.
Ok, my chicken is marinated now, time to stuff it into the oven and roast it.