Hamas not for genocide?

In this OpinionJournal article, Khaled Abu Toameh argues that Hamas is not all bad. And that the reason so many 'Palestinians' vote for them is not because they hate Israel even more than the 'Palestinian Authority' does:

The rampant corruption of Arafat and the top brass of the Palestinian Authority--the only ones who are accused of mishandling the billions that the international community, including the U.S., poured in after Oslo--has been a boon to Hamas, which has attended to the provision of services to a desperately impoverished public. True, Hamas is a terrorist movement responsible for gruesome killings of innocent civilians.

I sense a 'but' coming...

However, the movement that was founded in 1988 also runs a vast network of social, educational, health and economic services, especially in Gaza. In other words, Hamas has been doing exactly what the Palestinian Authority should have been doing all along.[Emphasis mine - Ed]

A Freudian slip of the tonge: That last sentence is kind of telling. I'm sure Khaled didn't intend to actually say what he said here, but say it he did: Hamas has been the main killer of Jews since 2000. And dear Khaled here feels that "Hamas has been doing exactly what the Palestinian Authority should have been doing all along".

Apparently, most 'Palestinians' seem to agree with him. Hamas is the most efficient group of Jew-murderers, not the 'PA'. And it is they who are winning the 'elections'.

Of course Hamas has things going on besides murdering Jews. Showing a social face is how you build a solid base of support. Guerilla warfare 1.01. They even get UN support, and then a raise this way. Its main goal however is and has always been the 'liberation' of 'Palestine'. By killing Jews.

So why exactly DID (and do) 'Palestinians' vote for Hamas?

...many who cast their ballots for Hamas in the municipal elections were quick to explain that this should be seen as a vote of protest against the Palestinian Authority rather than affiliation with fundamentalists and suicide attacks. Even some Christians in Bethlehem and Ramallah are not afraid to admit that they voted for Hamas.

So their Jew-murdering agenda played no part in this? Just a protest voice against the ruling thugs? And even Christian Arabs were not in the least deterred by the solemn, written genocidal foundations of Hamas?
The promise to murder Jews wasn't the reason to vote for them, but it didn't exactly deter anyone either?

Khaled is not from Finland, I hazard to guess. And his article is so revealing: The PA is hopelessly corrupt, and completely useless as a governing body. That part is news to no one. But the fact that Hamas is apparently the only alternative to voters does not seem to ring any alarmbells, either with the constituency, or with Khaled.