But accepting the results did not mean working with Hamas, which had never recognized Israel’s right to exist. While Abbas would remain president, the Hamas victory dashed hopes for a peace settlement and prompted the United States and Europe to cut off much of their aid to the Palestinian government. More significantly, perhaps, it struck a debilitating blow to Bush’s freedom agenda. Enthusiasm inside the administration for elections faded fast, and the so-called realists who had always been wary of the president’s high-flying rhetoric now had something to point to as they argued about the
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