GREEN IS THE COLOUR

It has been a remarkable 24 hours here in the West Bank.

As if the mere fact of the first Palestinian Elections for a decade wasn’t enough of a story, the result of the ballot confirms today as a pivotal moment in the history of the contemporary Middle East.

Most of us expected the militant Islamic group Hamas to do well in yesterday’s ballot – but none of us predicted how well.

Hamas, which has carried out more than 50 suicide bombings and killed hundreds of Israelis, is now set to win 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament.

I’ve spent the day in Ramallah, where this afternoon tensions between supporters of Hamas and the defeated Fatah party turned violent.

As I stood overlooking the Palestinian Legislative Council building, several Hamas supporters climbed onto a balcony and planted the green Hamas flag.

A few moments later, 3 Fatah supporters climbed up and tossed the flag into the crowd.

This was a very ill-advised move.

The crowd of several thousand Hamas supporters began throwing stones at the Fatah loyalists, knocking one of them down.

The windows of the Palestinian Legislative Council were smashed.

Volleys of machine gun fire soon followed, forcing us to dive for cover.

The question arising from this momentous day is – what does Hamas do next?

Some believe its victory will force it to moderate.

Others fear it will embolden Hamas to impose strict Islamic law in the Palestinian Territories.

Will the West Bank and Gaza become "Hamastan," a hardline Muslim state like Afghanistan under the Taliban, they ask?

The Hamas victory makes any movement in the Middle East peace process an even more remote possibility – and may push Israel to take further moves to set its permanent borders.

The international community has been calling for more democracy in the Middle East.

Tonight, though, it may be thinking it should have been more careful in what it wished for – because Palestinian voters have opted for Hamas.