Palestinian Authority Cracking Down on Militant Preachers - Good or Bad?

This should be read alongside Sharon's Terror Child - How the Likud Bloc Mid-wifed the Birth of Hamas By RAY HANANIA

Personally, of course, I don't believe in any two-state solution. The only way that the region will ever achieve peace and justice for all is for there to be a single Israel/Palestine where everyone's rights are protected.

Palestinian Authority cracks down on mosques to promote moderate Islam

By Janine Zacharia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 15, 2010; 11:27 PM

EL BIREH, WEST BANK - Each week, Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian Authority's minister of religious affairs, sends an e-mail to mosques across the West Bank. It contains what amounts to a script for the Friday sermon that every imam is required to deliver.

The practice, part of a broader crackdown on Muslim preachers considered too radical, shows the extreme steps the Palestinian Authority is taking to weaken Hamas, its Islamist rival, as it seeks to cement power and meet Israel's preconditions for peace talks.

The Palestinian policy drew little notice when it was launched last year. But it has been enforced with particular vigor in recent months and, analysts say, has been a factor in Hamas's declining strength in the West Bank.

Proponents say the tight control is necessary to curb fiery rhetoric, preserve Palestinian unity and promote a moderate form of Islam. But critics say the heavy-handed policy violates freedom of expression, alienates segments of Palestinian society and is a harbinger of the kind of police state the Palestinian Authority could become once statehood is achieved.