For many years the United States has considered Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, a terrorist organization rather than a legitimate political party. In a decisive victory on Jan. 26, Hamas won 76 of 132 available seats in Palestine’s first parliamentary election in 10 years. Until this unexpected defeat, the Fatah Party had held majority power in the legislature. This time they won 43 seats.

Mahmoud Abbas is the current President of Palestine and the leader of Fatah. He will remain in power for the next four years.

International media has said that fundamental differences between Fatah and Hamas may make cooperation within the new government difficult.

Rabbi Andy Koren of Temple Emanuel encourages people to look on the Internet to see what Hamas says about itself.

Co-founder of Hamas Mahmoud Zahhar told the BBC on Jan. 26: “We are not playing terrorism or violence. We are under occupation. . The Israelis are continuing their aggression against our people, killing, detention, demolition, and in order to stop these processes, we run effective self-defense by all means, including using guns.”

Also on Jan. 26, Ismail Haniya of Hamas told the BBC: “All parties must respect the will of the Palestinian people which has been expressed at the polls.”

On Feb. 1, Guilford students from Ramalah, Palestine held a panel discussion regarding Hamas’ victory. Invited speakers included two Rabbis and a professor of political science. All four students attended the friend’s school in Ramalah before coming to Guilford.

“We should be all proud at Palestine that elections took place in a democratic and transparent way,” said sophomore Faris Khader.

Students and invited speakers agreed that free elections for Palestine were a positive move toward a democratic state.

The students pointed out several reasons why they believed that Hamas won the elections and Fatah lost.

“Fatah was responsible for a lot of corruption in Jerusalem and Palestine,” Khader said.

“This vote was a protest vote,” said junior Maisa Zeedani. “It does not show in any way that Palestinians want an Islamic state or Islamic law. It is a protest vote – a socio-economic one against a corrupt government.”

Shadi Abdallah repeated what a friend back home in Ramalah told him: “The donations that Fatah were receiving . the leaders were taking that money and doing something else with it, other than spending it on the people.”

Senior Samer Atiani said that he would not have voted for Hamas. “We should try and we should give Hamas a chance. It is in the interest of the world to do that,” Atiani said.

He also pointed out that “the problem in the Palestinian conflict is not about Hamas, it is not about Arial Sharon . what the conflict is about is justice and human rights.”

Rabbi Koren agreed with the students on one point. “This election, regardless of the outcome is a victory for the Palestinian people,” he said.

The rabbi expressed his deep concerns about what he and many others, including the U.S. government, believe is a terrorist organization gaining legitimate power in Palestine.

“To call it an all-out victory we should be very cautious. I think we have to be very, very careful .’cause we know what happened in the 1930s. And we know what happened when a party that promised order, and promised reform, and promised a change came to power in Germany.”

Rabbi Koren also expressed concern about the issue of human rights.

“So if you are warning us that this is truly about human rights and this is truly about justice – then we also need to look internally at the Palestinian society to see what the checks are that are in place. Where are the human rights organizations . that might need to step up and do the monitoring at this point?”

Assistant Professor of Political Science Robert Duncan believes a part of Hamas will not give up terrorism. Duncan wonders if Hamas will be able to cooperate with Fatah and President Abbas in the transition and over the long term, though he hesitated to speculate about the future.

“You just don’t know. It’s like reading the goat entrails in the parking lot. You just really have to divine what you think’s gonna happen,” Duncan said.

Duncan agrees that the elections were a positive move. “From a U.S. foreign policy perspective, the administration wants to promote democracy around the world.”

“Well, that’s great; we’ve got democracy. But you need to be careful,” Duncan said. “When the people speak, particularly in the Middle East, you have a democratically-elected government that may be more anti-American than the one you tried to deal with [before.]”

Rabbi Jonathan Malino, Professor of Philosophy, did not agree with Rabbi Koren on every point. “Israel is going to have to change. . There seems to be an attitude that peace is hopeless. . Getting genuine peace negotiations back on track is going to be very hard. I don’t think it would have been any easier with Fatah in power.”

Atiani agrees that the road to peace will be difficult. “You do not make peace with your friends,” he said. “You make peace with your enemies.