Abbas uncut
Mahmoud Abbas broke a lot of hearts here and in Israel with his increasingly strident rhetoric, including such gems as "Zionist enemy." None of us likes to hear that kind of stuff, but I do think it helps to put it in perspective.
First of all, the man is a politician running for office. The bigger his margin of victory, the more power he can marshal to negotiate a settlement. To ensure such a mandate, he likely feels the need to make some statements which to us seem distasteful.
Second, anyone who is really surprised or disappointed by this probably had unrealistic expectations in the first place. The man is on record as a Holocaust denier, after all. The "moderate" label, when applied to Palestinian leadership, can only be understood in the most relative sense.
Let's face it, there was never any chance they would elect Gandhi. Let's just wait until after the election and hope for the best.