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The appeal of statehood among Palestinians boosted the waning popularity of Abbas and his secular nationalist Fatah Party and put rival militant group Hamas, which espouses Israel’s destruction, on the defensive, Telhami said. The U.S., Israel and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist group.
Still, for Palestinians “it’ll be a short-lived celebration because nothing concrete was accomplished,” cautioned Leslie Campbell, director of Middle East programs for the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, a non- government organization that supports democratic institutions.
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