Abbas needs time.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Facts on the ground have a way of tempering expectations, and one important set of new facts facing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is the huge victory posted by the Islamic militant group Hamas in Thursday's elections in the Gaza Strip. With voter turnout exceeding 80 percent, Hamas won 77 out of the 118 seats in 10 districts.

The overwhelming support for Hamas shouldn't be read as a broad endorsement for continued terrorist attacks against Israel. Hamas runs schools, welfare programs and clinics in Gaza, where 80 percent of the people live in desperate poverty. Many Gaza residents were voting against the corrupt and ineffective political establishment set up by Yasser Arafat.

By the same token, neither Abbas nor Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can afford to ignore the militant core of Hamas supporters who renounce all efforts toward a peace agreement with Israel. The organization's founding principles proclaim: "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. The initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility."

There is widespread hope among Palestinians that cooler heads will ultimately prevail within Hamas. Some see the group's willing embrace of mainstream political aspirations as a positive sign that portends moderation. Elected officials must ultimately answer to the electorate, and most Palestinians are much more moderate than Hamas hardliners.

Nonetheless, what passes for moderation within Hamas would likely serve to harden Abbas' current position. Abbas has been working feverishly to win cease-fire agreements from Palestinian militants, but Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade insist that any cease fire must include substantive Israeli concessions.

It's understandable that proponents of peace in the Middle East are heartened by the progress that has been made since Arafat's death last November. But the United States and others hoping to capitalize on the positive momentum must recognize that Abbas faces more immediate challenges within his own government than he does with Israel.

A headlong rush to the negotiating table is doomed to failure unless the long-suffering Palestinian people are given better reasons to have faith in their new leadership than their prior experience justifies. Developments to date are cause for cautious optimism, but the emphasis needs to be on the word "cautious."