Word: fundamentalists
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...American Muslim’s attest, Islam is a peaceful religion, and the majority of its followers are peaceful people. But it is not until this peaceful majority authoritatively separates itself from the violent zealots that Islam will shed its reputation for bloodshed. Moreover, the best hope to check fundamentalist Islamic terrorism, as well as more politically-oriented Iraqi insurgents, is through vigorous reproach from other Muslims. Censure from America, the UN, and others has been ineffectual, but an internal denunciation from one’s religious compatriots surely makes a more meaningful impression...
...covered herself in the traditional hijab, or head scarf, and the body- length jilbab. "I couldn't find a girl for months," he says. "Nowadays, 70% of Palestinian women wear these clothes. It's normal." To al-Bitawi, the change is a sign that more Palestinians are adopting the fundamentalist values that Hamas espouses. "Of course we would love to see Shari'a [Islamic law] in every home," he says. "But the reality is that some women don't wear the hijab, some people don't pray at the mosque. We can't force people...
...Hamas goes in promoting its brand of Islam may yield answers to a dilemma that is roiling the Middle East: Will the party choose moderation, now that it has inherited responsibility for governing some 4 million Palestinians? Or will it use its power to impose a fundamentalist ideology that, coupled with its militant anti-Israel stance, has produced suicide bombings against Israel and led the U.S. and the European Union to designate it a terrorist organization...
Many Israelis might disagree. Until Hamas proves that it is committed to restraint, it's likely that Israel will continue the policy of unilaterally establishing permanent borders to separate itself from the Palestinians. Signs that the Palestinians are building a fundamentalist society on their side of the line won't do much to bolster Israeli interest in a negotiated peace. That may be why Hamas leaders like Sheik al-Bitawi are sounding conciliatory. "There are good things in Europe and the U.S.: civilization, democracy, medical care," he says. "But there are also bad things: divorce, drugs, murder. We hope that...
...such advances is outweighed by simmering resentment over the war in Iraq and the lack of progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. As the triumph of Hamas in last month's Palestinian elections showed, holding free elections in such conditions runs a high risk of rewarding fundamentalist groups that have little interest in tamping down anti-Western attitudes. The popularity of Islamists may be discomfiting to the West, but it increasingly seems to be the bargain required for implanting democracy in the Islamic world. Says Mohammed Abdel Koddus, a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood: "People are looking...