Good news in Palestine?

For a while it has seemed that nothing good would come of the Palestinian elections. Hamas won and has failed to moderate its stance, as many, including myself, predicted it would. Worse, Hamas supporters have been clashing with Fatah's in the streets. But todays news brought something good. Abbas announced his support for a proposal to recognize an Israel confined to pre-1967 boundaries. This is an excellent political move by Abbas, as noted in Steven Erlanger's Times article:

Hamas faces a dilemma, suggested Roni Shaked of Yediot Aharonot: "Saying
yes would be betraying its principles, while saying no would be going against
the public," which generally supports a Palestinian state on 1967 lines
alongside Israel.

Joseph Schumpeter and others have argued that democracy is good, not because the people get what they want or would even be able to figure out what they want, but because politicians have to engage in some form of competition in order to get and stay elected. Palestine has been a good demonstration of this concept in the past few months: Fatah got kicked out because it is corrupt, but Abbas has now placed Hamas in a position where it will have to moderate or lose some its populist appeal. All of this is a credit to Palestinean voters. If this succeeds, as it may, some credit would also need to be given to those who shaped the market, the Israelis and Western Powers--or perhaps none should be, due to their failure to allow this kind of change earlier. But we'll have to wait and see. Optimism is not often warrented in the Israel-Palestine area.