I don't like to comment on things like this because I end up regretfully pissing someone off but since you asked, I'll try to give my opinion, and please just take it as that. People say a lot of things but hopefully some of it is actually reflected by their actions. Saying itself sometimes seems like a waste of time but maybe it's worth a shot. It seems like we have too little of what everyone wants: a homeland, safety and a distinct cultural identity and too much of what people don't want: a lot of refugees, fanatical nationalism, and gun-toting children with bad ideas. I think part of the apathy stems from everyone being sick of the situation, sick of people like Abdel Aziz Rantisisick calling for Israel to be wiped off the map, and sick of Israel relying on air strikes to wipe people like Abdel Aziz Rantisisick's off the map instead, sick of occupation, sick of zealotry and sick of an ends justify means ideology on both sides. It's a weird situation where not even close to everyone can be pleased and I don't think the majority of Palestinians love Hamas, I think they just don't dislike them as much as the Fatah. Hamas would have been a model government for supplying social resources -if it weren't for all the bombing, violence and propaganda. So what is there about Hamas to fall in love with? As a result of them, not only have countless Israelis suffered, but many Palestinians have been denied their rights. The US has the fun (NOT!) job of maintaining security for Israelis and making Hamas renounce (no seriously this time) violence, while giving the Palestinians the right to choose their own leader. I'm sorry kid, but it don't look good. Speaking of Islamist fanaticism, this wave of embassy burnings isn't encouraging either. But considering that there haven't been any serious peace negotiations since the failed Oslo Accord, I don't know how this can really affect them. For there to be peace negotiations, each side must offer what they actually consider to be a benefit to the other side, not a drawback. If Palestine can't control its own borders, what would independence mean anyway? Someone's going to be fighting for it whether they're elected or not. Ok, I know this isn't the time for revisionist history and about Hamas being a fundamentalist Islamist regime, I don't know what to say, but if Palestine was recognized by US as a state a long time ago, might Hamas never have been formed? Right now they are listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, so we will not recognize them as a government. Maybe acknowledgement or no acknowledgement, it doesn't really make a diff. I don't know what an elected Hamas government means in de facto terms, but if there wasn't an Islamic state before the elections, there isn't really one now. It will take more than government to form a "state." You know the other option and I can understand why you may not be too hot about it based on what we know about Hamas. Anyway, I don't think there can be any harm in hoping that things can be improved in measureable terms. For that, you need to influence the people to influence the government. I hope it's not the other way around. "The strong do what they can and the weak do what they must" -Thucydides