The separation of Gaza from the West Bank is one of the rare moments of clarity in the Israeli-Palestinian mud fight. We now can watch and see if a totally corrupt organization (Fatah) can reform itself and at the same time watch a fundamentalist driven movement (Hamas) deal with the business of providing basic survival needs for its citizens. Fatah is going to be provided with aid from the US & the EU as well as the tax revenues from Israel - so will it stuff this largesse into the nearest Swiss Bank account or will it actually try to improve the life of its people? (That means economic investment and social services - the latter being the main path through which Hamas gained power.) Hamas is going to have to keep the water and electricity flowing from Israel, so are they going to learn to deal with their Devil or just organize a mass suicide of their population? For once - these two are going to have to chose their paths and not be able to make excuses or throw blame for their failures.

All of this will be guided by the exterior struggle for influence in the 3 sided contest between the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Follow the money here carefully - since Iran and Saudi Arabia will both try to buy Hamas' soul. My money there is on Iran since they provide the military muscle (hardware and training) that Hamas needs to survive. My fear is that Iran will goad both Hamas and Hezbollah (both sacrificial pawns) into a simultaneous suicidal war with Israel. The EU and the US will just throw money at Fatah – but really, what other choice is there? (a new Oil for Food type administration for the UN perhaps?)

But now we have a mini Taliban state in Gaza that will use the fruits of its 44% electoral victory to snuff out any and all opposition to their rule. We have already seen that they are willing to shoot and kill their own people who protest. It will be interesting to see how the residents of Gaza feel about all of this in 6 months - since they are the real losers in this mess. And the West Bank can only hope that with the nutters locked up in Gaza that they actually might get their economy restarted by learning to deal with their neighbor.

But for now - clarity: a pliable government on one side and a rigid one on the other. Who will gain the confidence of the "people" as this plays out? Don't hope for a Knight on a White Horse though, neither of the existing two sides is in the mood for any competitors at the moment. But then, the Palestinians "never miss a chance to miss a chance", so in truth, is there any hope of things changing (except for the worse)?

This article is a clear demonstration of the problem facing the West in dealing with Islam - how to reconcile the tolerance accorded to faith and its practices with the intolerance required to deal firmly with the militant side of this religion. If the demonizing of the whole of Islam on one side is wrong, as suggested here, then equally minimizing the problems caused by the Salafist ideology and practice (Wahabi, al-Qaeda and the like) is equally unacceptable. Until the West can develop and clearly implement a two pronged approach to Islam - strength against the militant activists and an ideological response to the excesses of the faith, then this problem will persist. When I read this article, all I see is an attack on the critics of the faith - and not a word about the real crisis of the Islamic faith being hijacked from within by their own extremists.

The Islamic faith can be practiced in a moderate manner - the United States clearly has the most integrated Muslim population in the West who have found a balance between their personal beliefs and their civic lives. This is far removed from the situation developing in Europe where ghettos of culturally and religiously isolated minorities are being radicalized by Salafist ideology. You may hate Bush, but at least he has publicly made sure that he reaches out to the Muslim community and has never demonized them after 9-11. And while there will be others who have said harsh things, all of them pale in comparison with the verbiage regularly spewed from the channels in the middle east.

The great failure of the intellectual community after 9-11 was not challenging Salafist doctrine head-on, and developing a response to the same alienated masses that are so easily manipulated by its siren call. It is not Islamaphobic to state that some aspects of the faith have been twisted and perverted. And it is not Islamaphobic to shut off the funds that are spreading this minority interpretation of the faith throughout the world. But this is not happening and so the ideological side of this struggle is being ceded to the Salafist side.

What we have now is a shotgun assault from both sides over the motives and believes of the other - blacking all of Muslims for the crimes of a few and blackening all of the West for its actions. We need to tighten the focus and insure that criticism from both sides is directed at the problems - and not

at the majority who just want to get along with their lives.

Military action will not win this struggle, but it is necessary in some cases. With the power of modern technology, the destructive potential from some of these groups will have to be countered. But this needs to be matched with an assault on the beliefs that motivate these people to extremes - and a willingness not to confuse action against this deviancy with an attack on the whole of Islam.

Until both sides of this issue are addressed, we will remain in shackles.