(as somebody who actually lived in Israel during that timeframe) - PA/PLO didn't want hamas to win elections because they didn't want to loose power and money.

(as somebody who actually lived in Israel during that timeframe) - PA/PLO didn't want hamas to win elections because they didn't want to loose power and money. It extremely corrupt and hamas victory was partly predicated on this - Israel didn't want hamas to win elections because it didn't want terrorist organization running state. When hamas did win, negotiations still continued up till the moment that Obama got elected and killed them [0]. When Ismail Haniye got nominated and voted in as PM there was long discussion in Israel that maybe from position of the power hamas will feel responsibility and will became more political and moderate. I remember countless discussions on tv how moderate Haniye is and if he will embrace oslo accords, recognize Israel, etc. and if we are talking about oslo accords, there were badly wounded [1] by palestinian side by that time (think also second intifada) and everybody just wanted to get to finish line [0] https://www.meforum.org/israeli-settlements-american-pressure https://www.meforum.org/israeli-settlements-american-pressur... [1] http://israelvisit.co.il/BehindTheNews/WhitePaper.htm http://israelvisit.co.il/BehindTheNews/WhitePaper.htm