After Hamas' resounding election victory, papers across the Middle East examine what will happen next, with one Palestinian daily demanding Hamas provides "clear answers to urgent questions".
The mood in Israel is sombre, but most papers believe Tel Aviv will have to deal with Hamas even though one commentator says that relations are "saturated with blood".
Widespread Arab excitement at the "powerful earthquake" of the election result is tempered by concern in some papers that the victory could turn into defeat if Hamas does not act "properly, rationally and responsibly".
PALESTINIAN
SAMIH SHBAYB in AL-AYYAM
The ball is in Hamas' court. Now that it has gained the people's trust and has become the biggest bloc in the parliament, it has to give clear answers to urgent questions regarding the whole Palestinian entity. We hope that its answers will be good ones and that it will not subsequently disappear and repeat the Islamist experiences in other countries.
AHMAD DAHBUR in AL-HAYAT AL-JADIDAH
Technically, the winners have no problem in forming a government since they have the legal majority to do so. However, with their ideological legacy... they will find it difficult to find a mechanism to meet current and future requirements. It is not enough to say that a long truce can make things work. We should all work towards a single plan.
ASHRAF AL-AJRAMI in AL-AYYAM
It seems that we're facing a difficult local and international situation. If Hamas cannot form a coalition government with Fatah then it won't be able to guarantee that its government will be able to carry out its duties because Fatah effectively controls the power centres in the National Authority. In such a scenario, a political paralysis will follow which would prevent the implementation of many projects that Hamas has.
ADLI SADIQ in AL-HAYAT AL-JADIDAH
Hamas should not forget that the Palestinian people did not turn its back on Fatah because of the latter's lack of resistance work or frailty in adhering to the desire for independence and freedom, but rather because it was short of talented executives. The Palestinian people lost faith in Fatah's social security. The people have been treated unjustly by Fatah's immoral and corrupt officials.
HASAN AL-BATAL in AL-AYYAM
Fatah dressed the bride but Hamas married her. Fatah has to keep face, go into opposition and turn down the alms Hamas offers under the cover of a national unity government. Hamas said no to joining a Fatah-led national unity government before the elections, and Fatah has now to do the same and sit in opposition. If Hamas learns the lesson of Fatah's defeat it will win the next elections too - at least until Fatah learns from its defeat as well, that is if it ever learns.
AL-QUDS
Fatah... will continue with the self-criticism process to rectify the mistakes, purge the ranks and study the reasons that have led to this deterioration. However, under this temporary shock, it should not forget that it is part of the Palestinian people and that it has ties with the other factions especially Hamas.
HAFITH AL-BARGHUTHI in AL-HAYAT AL-JADIDAH
On the one hand, our situation looks similar to the beginning of the Algerian crisis when the Islamic Salvation Front won the elections and the ruling party used the security forces to prevent it from taking power... On the other hand, we should avoid any repeat of the Taleban, if some Hamas people walk in the footsteps of the Taleban and focus on issues such as prohibiting alcohol and the segregation of the sexes.
ISRAEL
HA'ARETZ
Hamas' success in the elections is a turn for the worse in the complex relations between Israel and the Palestinians... Almost all aspects of the lives of the 3.5 million residents of the West Bank and Gaza are connected to Israel... This is a political complication, and it's difficult to see how they will get out of it. For Israel, too, this is a new difficulty that has been added to the existing ones.
NAHUM BARNEA in YEDIOT AHARONOT
The relations between Israel and Hamas are saturated with one component: blood. There is no intimacy at the top, there is no guilt feeling in the public, there are no expectations in the world and in Israel for negotiations on far-reaching settlements. Israel can try to stabilise a real border between it and the Palestinians on the basis of the Green Line and the [separation] fence.
AMI AYALON in YEDIOT AHARONOT
It makes no difference what happens now - one thing will not change: The State of Israel will continue to defend its citizens. Even if Hamas men wear official suits in the Palestinian parliament we will not grant them parliamentary immunity. But the negotiations door should be left open all the time.
BOAZ GANOR in MA'ARIV
Israel should not pin hopes on the readiness of the states of the world to shake off Hamas for long. The first cracks will certainly appear soon if Hamas is wise enough to abstain from terrorism. Israel has wide room for manoeuvre in reaction to the election... but it must make clear that democratic elections do not make a reptile kosher.
AMNON DANKNER in MA'ARIV
As always there are hopeless people who see Hamas moderating to the extent that it would be possible to do deals with it... This seems naïve to the extent of stupidity. The only happiness that can be derived from the situation is the happiness at the removal of doubt: Now we are facing a Palestinian rule that presents its true face, no matter how ugly... The government has no other option than to declare that there will be no dialogue with a Palestinian Authority headed by Hamas.
ORLY HALPERN in JERUSALEM POST
Now for the first time Arab Islamists will have to match their ideology with their actual practice... The question remains how much will they be willing to compromise on their beliefs in order to achieve stability.
YEHUAR GAL in HATZOFE
We will talk to Hamas because we always say no today, and then yes tomorrow. For this is our pattern of behaviour. We have no red lines. We have no national pride... Israeli society is tired of the contest and is ready to concede parts of its forefathers' land. The main thing is to buy a few months of calm.
PAN-ARAB
MAHIR UTHMAN in London-based AL-HAYAT
Hamas' victory came as a powerful earthquake that shook all corners of Fatah's movement. However, even if the victory is a source of pride for the Palestinian people, it is still a victory that requires - from Hamas itself, Fatah and the international parties - a fundamental change in order to resolve the oldest conflict in the modern world.
GHASSAN SHARBAL in AL-HAYAT
Yesterday, the world woke up to a huge explosion. It was described as an unprecedented earthquake... A 'coup' of this kind was unexpected. People believe that even Hamas itself was shocked.
ABD-AL-BARI ATWAN in London-based AL-QUDS AL-ARABI
Hamas' victory could turn into a defeat if its leadership does not act properly, rationally and responsibly in the forthcoming days... Hamas is now facing extremely difficult choices and tests. In order to form a new government, it will have to change its ways, negotiate with Israel, and abandon resistance in response to US and Israeli conditions.
JORDAN AND LEBANON
HILMI AL-ASMAR in JORDAN'S AL-DUSTUR
Hamas has not won the elections. The winners are the Palestinian people who challenged America and Israel, although they are occupied by both of them: Israel occupies the land and America finances their killing and threatens to starve them.
SATI NUR-AL-DIN in LEBANON'S AL-SAFIR
It is not the first time the Palestinian people decided to move against the Arab and international current and cause a strong political shock... The most dangerous form of this Palestinian challenge is that addressed to the West which will be forced to reconsider seriously its campaigns to spread democracy in the Arab world.
GEORGE ALAM in LEBANON'S AL-SAFIR
The reverberating quake resulting from the Palestinian elections will have very important ramifications not only at the Palestinian level, but also at the level of the region and the Arab-Israeli conflict, which will most probably change into an Islamic-Israeli conflict.
EDMOND SA'B in LEBANON'S AL-NAHAR
The Palestinian elections... have dealt democracy another 'setback' after the Egyptian elections in which the Muslim Brotherhood achieved a noticeable victory.
SARKIS NA'UM in LEBANON'S AL-NAHAR
The Hamas victory might have been a surprise to the US Administration and to a lesser extent to the EU. However, it was not a surprise to the Palestinians and the Arabs in general, nor to the monitors of the Palestinian and Israeli situation and the enduring and chronic connections between them.
RAJIH KHURI in LEBANON'S AL-NAHAR
The world... looked baffled and bewildered by the election results and the big victory achieved by Hamas. Even Hamas itself was surprised because it was not expecting its victory to reach this exciting level.
SAUDI ARABIA AND QATAR
SAUDI AL-WATAN
There is no doubt that Hamas' victory in the Palestinian legislative elections is the most important of its achievements since its establishment. There is also no doubt that this victory reflects the desire of the Palestinian street to see a strong Palestinian government capable of controlling security and finding some solutions to the exacerbating economic, political and social problems.
QATAR'S AL-WATAN
Although Hamas can now form a complete government in which it alone fills all the ministerial portfolios, the priority should be to develop political collective action inside the new Legislative Council, to prepare for the new phase of struggle in which all the factions take part, because the liberation of the land, not the form of government, is the bottom line for any people under occupation.
LU'AYY QADDUMI in QATAR'S AL-WATAN
Hamas faces a big challenge to its ability to adapt to the regional and international changes in the service of the Palestinian liberation project... The worst scenario is for the Islamic movement to present impractical ideas which gradually lead to Palestinian isolation and a lessening of support for their cause in a world which does not lack blind bias towards Israel.
UAE AND YEMEN
UAE'S AL-ITTIHAD
The elections have provided an ideal model for exercising democracy as it should be, and have shown that - irrespective of the pressures and the extent of the suffering - the desire for change remain stronger and greater than any obstacle.
UAE'S AL-KHALIJ
Hamas' victory will have a 'tsunami' effect within Palestinian society and at the level of the conflict or the settlement with the Zionist enemy.
YEMEN'S AL-THAWRAH
The floundering peace process, the failure of the talks and the continued occupation and siege imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people provided the main motive for these results.
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaus abroad.
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