NYT reports Aides to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, invited reporters on Friday to record him at prayer. The imam outside his office in Gaza City celebrated Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and envisioned universities, schools, parks and mosques being built on settlement land. At the same time, a few miles away in the Jabaliya refugee camp, hundreds of men and boys, unable to crowd into the Caliph Mosque, sat on nearby sidewalks and in alleyways. In a humid stench of sewage and fried fish, with expressions alert and thoughtful, they listened as their imam called the Israeli withdrawal an "achievement of resistance," celebrated prominent "martyrs of Hamas" and declared, "Allah knows that when we offer up our children, it is much better than choosing the road of humiliation and negotiation."
The imam's interpretation of Allah's will is that rather than the people having jobs working for the Israelis in agriculture and small-factories, it is better that they be unemployed and live in squallor. If Islam really teaches that (I dont think it does - I think only imams that have hijacked the religion teach that), then I think they need to find a new religion. If they can't bring themselves to embrace Judiasm, they might want to look further into what Christ said (and Jesus is mentioned in the Koran)
Israel's evacuation of its Gaza settlements has touched off a fierce political campaign here, and its outcome may determine whether Mr. Abbas can succeed in governing and eventually making peace. Hamas and Mr. Abbas's more secular faction, Fatah, are jostling for position in municipal elections in coming months and legislative elections planned for Jan. 25, the first that Hamas has ever said it would enter. Mr. Abbas is trying to contain Hamas within the Palestinian political system and ultimately to take its weapons away. Hamas, a far more disciplined, methodical movement than Fatah, wants to strengthen its hold on Palestinian society. Hamas has "a mission," said Ziad Abu Amr, a political scientist and independent legislator who serves as a liaison between Mr. Abbas and Hamas. "They want to Islamicize the state and society. Yes, in the final analysis, they want control." From the mosque roof on Friday, the green Hamas flag fluttered as usual. But three black, white, green and red Palestinian national flags stood there as well, modified to suggest Hamas's fundamentalist message. Across the blank white field, someone had stitched the words, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet."
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