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Originally Posted by Ustwo
The rub is, what was the 'job' they weren't getting done?
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I think that's a good question - and it probably has a lot of different answers. People didn't vote for Abbas and friends for a number of reasons.
Maybe another way of phrasing it is to say that apparently Palestinians feel that Hamas can get "the job" done better. There are probably fewer answers to that one.
In all, I think will had some very plausible answers. I'm positive that the average Palestinian wants their government to be able to make decisive improvements in immediate quality of life issues, and this may mean doing things that seem counter-productive to us in the long term. The crazy thing about it is that the balance of power between Israel and Palestine is so asymmetrical that an effective Palestinian government almost relies on the cooperation of the Israelis more than its own power. Although it's not really rational to an outsider, maybe that's exactly why the Palestinians elected a government that they perceive will "stick it" to the Israelis.
I guess my main point from this post and my previous one is that the Palestinians didn't vote for Hamas in a vacuum, and they're not primitive savages. They understand why we would think Hamas is a terrorist group, and they voted for them anyway. There are reasons and justifications for this. An examination of this issue that doesn't take that seriously is lacking something important.