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Hamas and al Qaeda are not equivalent. One is the democratically represented governent of a people. However unpalatable their motives, they must be taken seriously, because they are the only game in town. Ignoring them, as Israel and the Western governments have, will lead them resorting to violence to be heard.
Al Qaeda are fringe radicals committed to religious war. They will always choose violence, and there is no point negotiating with them.
Conflating the two is a mistake, rooted in ignorance.
Oh? And when was the last time Hamas was elected?
More often than Palestinians have been able to vote for the Israeli leadership, i.e. never.
"Khaled Mashaal, its leader, has publicly affirmed the movement's readiness to accept the borders of 1967. When Hamas won a majority in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, Haniyeh, the then president-elect, sent messages both to George W. Bush and to Israel's leaders, asking to be recognized and offering a long-term truce (hudna), along the 1967 border lines. No response came."
"In November 2011, Hamas leader Khaled Mishal made an agreement with Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, in which he committed to respecting the 1967 borders."
"In February 2012, according to the Palestinian authority, Hamas forswore the use of violence. Evidence for this was provided by an eruption of violence from Islamic Jihad in March 2012 after an Israeli assassination of a Jihad leader, during which Hamas refrained from attacking Israel. "Israel—despite its mantra that because Hamas is sovereign in Gaza it is responsible for what goes on there—almost seems to understand," wrote Israeli journalists Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, "and has not bombed Hamas offices or installations".
(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas)
Of course there should be more elections in Palestine. But there should be a Palestine first, something that Israel's actions are not facilitating.
In other words, Hamas has never been elected.