Hamas election gains chip away at PLO

NABLUS, West Bank — Palestinian politicians said Friday that unexpected victories by Hamas in municipal elections mean the Palestine Liberation Organization no longer has a lock on Palestinian politics.

According to official results in Nablus, the Islamic movement Hamas swamped Fatah, the main faction of the PLO and the governing party in the West Bank. Hamas won 73 percent of the vote on Thursday and took 13 of 15 seats on the municipal council.

Political leaders in Nablus compared the success of Hamas to the rise of Fatah a half-century ago, when its founder and late leader, Yasser Arafat, took over the moribund PLO.

In Thursday's vote, Hamas also won control in two other major West Bank towns, Jenin and El Bireh.

Fatah held on in Ramallah, which has a significant Christian minority. It won six seats and will govern there in coalition with another PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hamas won three seats in Ramallah, which is the West Bank's political hub.

The size of the Hamas showing in Nablus and its victory in Jenin were unexpected, and the results cast next month's national legislative elections in a new light. Although analysts said voters would be cautious before accepting a Hamas-led government, they said it was clear that the organization poses a serious challenge to Fatah.

Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel, has carried out scores of suicide bombings against Israelis.

"We will finally see who really represents the Palestinian people," predicted Adnan Asfour, a top Hamas official in Nablus. A week ago, Asfour completed a two-year term in prison, his 16th imprisonment since 1979. He said he is active only in Hamas' political wing.

"At this rate, we will disappear," said one Fatah official, who like other members of the organization here spoke on condition of anonymity.

The political advances for Hamas raise problems for the United States. The organization is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

Israeli spokesman Mark Regev, meanwhile, said his government would not negotiate with Hamas.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said troops uncovered a bomb factory at the Nablus home of a Hamas militant.

Asfour, the Hamas spokesman, said the organization would keep fighting "with the enemy until the land is liberated." He did not answer directly whether Hamas would accept a peace solution in which a Palestinian state would co-exist next to Israel.

"Hamas deals with reality. We can live with anyone under proper conditions," he said.

He attributed the victory to a trend in the Middle East of Islamic-based forces gaining strength, exemplified by the Muslim Brotherhood's strong performance in Egypt's recent parliamentary elections.