GAZA, Jan 26: Hamas swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah party on Thursday in Palestinian parliamentary polls, a political development West fears could bury any hope for reviving peace talks with Israel soon.

Hamas won an overwhelming majority in the 132-seat legislature, taking 76 seats to Fatah’s 43 in Wednesday’s election, the official vote count showed. It gives Hamas the power to shape and possibly even lead the next cabinet.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei of Fatah and his cabinet quit in the face of the Hamas victory. In the streets of Gaza, Hamas activists embraced, fired guns in the air and handed out sweets.

The outcome does not automatically unseat President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate. But he has said he might resign if was unable to pursue a peace agenda.

US President George W. Bush appealed to Mr Abbas to stay in office, but took aim at Hamas, vowing Washington would not deal with an armed Palestinian group advocating Israel’s destruction.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat commented on Hamas victory: “Today we woke up and the sky was a different colour. We have entered a new era.”.

Amid heightened tensions, Fatah supporters clashed with triumphant Hamas activists who briefly hoisted a green Hamas flag at the entrance to the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah.

With peace negotiations stalled since 2000 and Israel and Hamas bitter enemies, Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could opt for more unilateral moves, following last year’s Gaza pullout, to shape borders on land Palestinians want for a state.

Mr Olmert, who took over from Ariel Sharon after the 77-year-old leader’s Jan 4 stroke, suggested as much in a speech this week in which he repeated peace talks could not resume unless the Palestinian Authority disarmed militants.

A senior Fatah official said it appeared Hamas was propelled to victory by public frustration over the mainstream faction’s failure to achieve Palestinian statehood and anger over years of corruption in its institutions and in the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas’s charity network in the impoverished Gaza Strip and in the West Bank has also boosted its popularity.

“Hamas did not win because people loved Hamas, but because people were taking revenge against the past years of Fatah rule,” said Adel al-Helo, 41, a Gaza shopkeeper.

In its first official comment on the poll result, Israel urged the European Union to take a firm stance against the establishment of what it called a ‘Palestinian terrorist government’.

“After the takeover by Hamas of the Palestinian Authority, it is incumbent on the European Union to speak out clearly and unequivocally that there will be no European understanding of a process that would mean the establishment of a terrorist government,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.

Leaders of the EU said earlier Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel or risk international isolation.—Reuters