Islamistan

Hamas refusal to renounce violence and acknowledge the sovereignty of Israel has resulted in the de-facto partition of what was to be the state of Palestine ─ Gaza and the West Bank a territory long troubled by complex clan rivalries. Gaza is now embracing its 1.4 million lost true Palestinian wandering tribe, albeit a lot more religious and extremist than its founders in pre-Roman times. Today, the impoverished coastal strip is Islamic and extremist to the core. It is an Iranian-backed terrorist state, not much different than North Korea, but thankfully without nuclear weapons. There is no way in the foreseeable future that Hamas and Fatah will see eye to eye. So let’s cut to the chase ─ partition. Hamas is supported financially and militarily by Iran and Syria. Gaza can be Islamistan, Palestine or some combination thereof. America and its allies should stop trying to isolate Hamas while they support Fatah. It can and should support both.
The West Bank on the other hand, is a lot more secular and politically moderate. A quarter of the more than two million Palestinians living there are refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israel war. In Gaza two thirds of the residents are refugees of the war.

The West Bank could easily interlocalise with either Jordan or Israel as a partner in a federated state. Israel and Jordan can both use its 50,000 armed forces to combat the 6,000 force that Hamas fields.

The failure of the Saudi initiated Mecca-accord, signed by Hamas and Fatah in February 2007, to last more than 90 days is a good hint that their power-sharing idea is a non-starter. The power-sharing idea agreed in Mecca was in order to avert a looming civil war and ease an international blockade on the previous all-Hamas government. Neither ambition has been achieved.