I posted on this situation this past Friday, and yesterday, it would seem, Hamas decided to decline the Palestinian Authority’s kind offer of membership in their cabinet, which Mahmoud Abbas had hoped they would accept in time for both entities to work together on transitioning the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli evacuation, to Palestinian occupancy.

The Jerusalem Post has more.

Hamas’ decision not to join the Palestinian Authority’s cabinet poses a serious threat to the PA’s efforts to impose law and order in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s evacuation, PA officials warned on Tuesday.

….Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank, said his movement prefers to hold parliamentary elections first before a national unity government is formed.

….”We are not interested in being in the PA just for the sake of it. We believe that the right way to do it is through elections.” Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas in the Gaza Strip said his movement was insisting on the formation of a united national committee to run the affairs of the Palestinians after the withdrawal.

Hmmm, what do I read into this?

I think Hamas is being clever here, not as in sneaky(at least no more so than anyone engaging in politics), but as in smart.

a) Had they joined the PA’s cabinet, the Israelis might well have objected to the terrorist organization’s being part of the official mix and decided to delay the evacuation of Gaza, while the turnover of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians will be a phenomenon that will be in their best interests as it will present them with an independent subdivision on which they can stockpile weapons and from whence they can mount terrorist operations into Israel.

b) Hamas has designs upon taking the PA away from Abbas and Fatah and they realize that the most “legitimate” way of doing so in the current climate is by winning democratic elections. When they say they believe that elections are the only way to go, they are looking at the fact that they have become a popular political party and realize they could do better winning the votes of the people than suborning themselves to the Abbas faction by allowing themselves to be absorbed(keeping in mind that, as a “political party,” the terror organization has both gained legitimacy among the Palestinians and also won a hell of a lot of municipal elections).

If the Palestinians finally gain statehood and then Hamas takes over their government, they’ll be Terrorist Central, not only imposing Sharia law on their people but also intensifying the violence against innocent Israeli men, women and children.