AUSTIN BAY looks at the Hamas victory and what it may mean. The Belmont Club looks at the money. And Patrick Belton continues to report on Oxblog. My favorite bit is Hanan Ashrawi’s unhappy take:

Not mincing words, she expressed utter disbelief in the Hamas 2.0 hypothesis, said she would not be open to joining a coalition with the party and told me that she thought Hamas would bring the West Bank and Gaza into theocracy.

Sorry she’s unhappy, but her crowd had years and years to do something about Hamas, to get their rampant corruption under control, and — for that matter — to make (and keep) a peace agreement that would have led to prosperity in Gaza and the West Bank. They didn’t, and this is part of the consequence.

Meanwhile, an article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel features interviews with locals with Palestinian roots, and I have to agree with this guy:

Fathi Husain agreed. He said that everyone would like to see peace and working relations in that part of the world, but for now he will wait and see what comes out of this democratic election.

“Democracy is a process, not just an event,” Husain said. “It takes a lot of effort to make it work right.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

UPDATE: Here’s a transcript of Hugh Hewitt and Frank Gaffney talking about this subject.