[Caleb1411]

...Yet that is why the Hamas landslide is good news. It will now be much harder to wish away the unpleasant fact that after a dozen years of PLO misrule, Palestinian society is deeply dysfunctional, steeped in hatred and violence. All but the willfully blind can now see that the Palestinian Authority is no ''partner in peace." Until it is decisively defeated and thoroughly detoxified, the Palestinian people will never enjoy the blessings of liberty and decent governance. Ironically, the ascendancy of Hamas may have brought that day a little closer.

It's good to read pundits (like Jacoby, conservatives all) who are in touch with reality.

[strategofr]

"Until it is decisively defeated and thoroughly detoxified, the Palestinian people will never enjoy the blessings of liberty and decent governance. Ironically, the ascendancy of Hamas may have brought that day a little closer."

But this still seems like wishful thinking anyway. How can they be defeated, aside from killing all the Palestinians? (which no one in the international arena is proposing, I realize the idea has some popularity on this web site.) How could it be detoxified?

The reason people keep engaging in wishful thinking about the Palestinians is not because it's hard to see what they're like. It's because no one can figure out what to do about them when they are the way they are---so we wish they were different.