The Hamas in Palestine is a "terrorist group" according to the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Israel, and its attacks targeting Israeli civilians and other human rights abuses have been condemned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Now, there is an huge gap in my knowledge about Middle East politics, and I admit it.

But it seems to me that their rise from a terrorist fringe group to the victor in this week’s Palestinian elections cannot be a good thing.  And it also seems to me that their rise might be due in part to an anti-U.S. sentiment because of our other actions in the Middle East.  Am I way off base in thinking this?