The terrorist group Hamas won 76 of the 132 members Parliament making it eligible to form the Government. The ruling Fattah ended up with 43 seats and conceded defeat. Hamas insists on broad participating from Fattah to form the Government which senior Fattah leader Saeb Erekat was not possible. Hamas leader in exile Khaled Mashaal called Fattah leader and former Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei from Syria stressing for a partnership of all Palestinian parties and promised equitable treatment of both Muslims and Christians. As expected, the Hamas did particularly well in the Gaza strip where it had the strongest support and Fattah was weakened by incessant in fighting. Supporters poured out in the streets dancing and chanting “Congratulations and victory to Islam” and demanded that Mohammad Deif, the Hamas military leader on Israel hit list, be made the Defense Minister. Although Hamas had taken out destruction of Israel from its portfolio it has not taken it out of its charter and spearheaded suicide bombings often targeting Israeli civilians as reprisals for military killings. Hamas reached out to Israel that it would honor the truce hammered out with the Fattah party provided Israel did not assassinate Hamas leaders, conduct raids into Palestinian towns, and not use force. Israel has not reacted to the Hamas victory but said it will not negotiate with terrorists and the United States said that it will not recognize a Government formed by Hamas as long as long as they continued with their call for the destruction of Israel. The US had initially wanted Hamas participation in the polls saying that keeping out a party that had 33% popular support is a bad idea for peace. However, when opinion polls predicted a Hamas victory, the US and Israel started panicking, unsure how to proceed. United Nations Security General Kofi Anan congratulated Hamas on their victory said “any group that wishes to participate in the democratic process should ultimately disarm."