The analysis cup runneth over as everyone with an opinion on the matter is talking about Hamas' victory in the Palestinian election. The repetitive media bombardment is currently in the process of forming the "public consensus" about the significance and meaning of this event.
Amidst the fracus, here are a few pieces I've found to be informative. To begin with is Ali Abunimah's Hamas Election Victory: A Vote for Clarity:
Hamas' victory pulls the rug from under the project of trying to deflect the blame for the conflict from Israeli colonization to Palestinian internal pathologies. The peace process industry will not give up easily, however, and will now urge Hamas to act "responsibly" and to "moderate" its positions -- which means in effect to abandoning all forms of resistance and assuming the docile and complicit role hitherto played by Fatah.
Professor Beshara Doumani writes in a piece in the LA Times,
In terms of the relationship with Israel, nothing fundamental will change, but the mask will be off. "Parliament" and "government" are words that connote a sovereignty that is absent in reality. The mantra "there is no partner for peace" has been an ironclad law of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians since the days of the British Mandate.
Jonathan Cook on what is really on the mind of the Israeli government throughout all this, Disturbing Israeli ideas from Herzliya,
Six years of Herzliya conferences prove that peace negotiations over Palestinian statehood have never been of concern to Israel's leadership. The Jewish state made up its mind long ago about how best to protect its interests.
Finally, on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interviews Robert Dreyfuss about the role Israel and the U.S. played in developing Hamas.
So there's plenty of evidence that the Israeli intelligence services, especially Shin Bet and the military occupation authorities, encouraged the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood and the founding of Hamas. There are many examples and incidents of that.
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