Already they are well on their way to earning themselves international pariah status for having voted in one of the world’s most deadly terrorist groups as their representation.

The recent landslide Hamas election victory in the Palestinian territories would appear to be a huge blow to hopes for peace between Israelis and the Palestinians — and it is. But despite the Hamas victory, the truth is the peace process has been dead for years.

The late Yasser Arafat never really accepted Israel’s right to exist. In fact, on May 10, 1994, Arafat described his acceptance of the Oslo Accords as akin to the temporary truce between the prophet Muhammad and the Quraish tribe, which was later broken once Muhammad’s forces became powerful:

"This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our prophet Muhammad and Quraish, and you remember that the Caliph Omar had refused this agreement and considered it a despicable truce … But the same way Muhammad had accepted it, we are now accepting this peace effort," Arafat said.

The reality is that Arafat was always a wolf in sheep’s clothing, offering platitudes about peace in English while inciting his people to violence in Arabic. The proof is in the pudding: When offered a viable Palestinian state with an arrangement in Jerusalem at Camp David in 2000, Arafat rejected the deal and refused to make a counter-proposal. His response was an orchestrated campaign of violence against Israel that lasted well over a year.

Since Arafat’s death Mahmud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has refused or has been unable to disarm Hamas and other terrorist organizations, as demanded by the road map to peace. Where Palestinians do control territory, anarchy reigns.

For Israelis the Hamas victory is, ironically, not necessarily a disaster. Israel has been under pressure to negotiate with a wolf in sheep’s clothing. With the Hamas victory, however, the sheep’s clothing has been stripped away. Staring back at Israelis is a snarling wolf with innocent Jewish blood dripping from its teeth. International pressure on Israel to continue “peace” talks and concessions are over for now. The pressure is now on the Palestinians.

For the Palestinians the Hamas victory is an unmitigated disaster. Although the authority under Arafat was corrupt — and Hamas did offer some public health services and such — Palestinians will become further isolated. Already they are well on their way to earning themselves international pariah status for having voted in one of the world’s most deadly terrorist groups as their representation.

The Hamas covenant (http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/hamas.htm) is an odious, vile manifesto that would have made Hitler’s “Mein Kamp” seem almost reasonable. Although most Palestinians probably don’t know the covenant verbatim, Hamas’ goals and past suicide attacks are well known — and that didn’t stop Palestinians from voting for them en mass.

The Palestinians have made it clear that they want to continue the fight to destroy Israel. Under Hamas the dwindling Christian minority in Palestine, as well as secular and moderate Palestinians, will be forced to live under Islamic law. Life will become even drearier than it already is.

The Israelis will probably continue to unilaterally disengage from Palestinian populated areas, just as they did recently from the Gaza Strip. Isolated Jewish settlements in the West Bank will be evacuated, and the security barrier will be extended to include large settlement blocs that are located near Israel’s 1967 border.

Eventually Hamas might feel the pinch and agree to an Arafat-like phony peace treaty, but Hamas cannot be trusted. Most likely we will not see peace in our time. Once Israel finishes unilaterally drawing its borders, any attack emanating from the Palestinian territories will be treated as an act of war and Israel will act accordingly — and be justified in doing so.

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