Majority of Palestinians support Hamas-Israel talks: poll

When you see something like this, you have to hope it's more than just wishful thinking. You would think that despite its rhetoric of wanting to destroy Israel, which is written in Hamas' charter, that they would still not blow this historic chance at lasting peace in the Middle East. With the majority of Palestinians supporting peace with their geographically close neighbor, there might be a sliver of hope that that the "Roadmap" will actually continue to be pursued and acted upon.

A quick not on violent rhetoric; Iran, Venezuela and North Korea all have a penchant for running on at the mouth, despite any real intentions to ever actually carry out their threats. Either that or their threats are mired in circumstances that would have kept them subdued anyway. My point is, much ado was made of Hamas' charter regarding Israel and in a perfect world I would want them to change it too, but blathering violently seems to be a cultural thing for countries without real international muscle. I think Israel and Co. have to be the bigger people and interact with these countries despite their nonsensical remarks about destruction and violence...at least until the rest of world grows up.

An opinion poll showed on Tuesday that 75 percent of the Palestinians support peace negotiations between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.

The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Researches and Survey in the West Bank, said that 64 percent of those inquired agree to push forward the peace process, while 14 percent reject it.

Fifty-three percent of the inquired expressed hope that a new cabinet led by Ismail Haneya from Hamas would be able to implement the roadmap peace plan, while 40 percent reject it.

Asked about the prospect of the Hamas-led cabinet, 70 percent said that the cabinet would succeed, while 22 percent envisaged failure of the government.

Meanwhile, 68 percent believe that the Palestinian National Authority can not manage without international aid, and 50 percent said that the aid would come to an end after Hamas assumes office.