HAMAS POPULARITY GROWING AS OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF PALESTINIANS CALL FOR ELECTIONS

We're not saying that this most recent news is in any way related to previous reports of an underwhelming tsunami of Abbas support (more like a gently rolling wave, really). But we are saying that we're beginning to get a sense of how West Bank elections might go. And make no mistake, elections they are a'comin:

A survey published Thursday by an independent Palestinian research center found that 75 percent of Palestinians would back new elections. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted the poll during and after the Hamas military takeover of Gaza last week. It was conducted among 1,270 respondents in the West Bank and Gaza and had an error margin of 3 percent. If new presidential elections were to be held, 49 percent would vote for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah movement, and 42 percent would vote for his political rival, deposed prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the survey said.

Keep this in mind: Hamas just murdered dozens upon dozens of Palestinian citizens. They have spectacularly succeeded in getting the world to say "to hell with" a million and a half Palestinians in Gaza. But they're still just outside the margin of the ostensible good guys. With news like this, you know what we would do? Rush to give arms and money to Abbas - that way if Hamas takes over, there'll be little presents for them to unwrap on Inauguration Day. Which is often just a couple of days before Atrocities Against Israeli Civilians Day.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]