Poles close in Palestinian election

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded polling stations today to cast ballots in their first parliamentary election in a decade, a watershed vote that will bring Islamic militants into the political fold and set Palestinians on a course of negotiation or confrontation with Israel.

The Palestinians’ first truly competitive election helped cement democracy in the post-Yasser Arafat era, but it was also likely to give unprecedented power to Hamas, the Islamic party that calls for Israel’s destruction.