
 Before a final  tally of votes had been counted in all the states, it was obvious that  Democratic Senator Barack Obama had swept the United States to make history as  America's first black president.
 
 The importance of the moment was not  lost on world leaders, who offered their congratulations from around the  planet.
 
 But Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas  (Abu Mazen) had America's foreign policy on his mind, saying he hoped Sen. Obama  would make more headway in pressuring Israel into concessions to the PA than his  predecessor, George W. Bush.
 
 "We expect change and we hope that that will  bring peace for us," Abbas said.
 
 The Hamas terrorist organization that  controls Gaza also issued a statement, warning the new president to avoid  repeating the policies of the Bush administration.
 
 The group made it  clear that its attitude of belligerence toward the United States was unlikely to  change, urging Obama to "learn from the mistakes of previous U.S.  administrations, and particularly the one headed by George W. Bush, towards the  Arab world."