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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121403728.html
The Palestinian Divide between Gaza and the West Bank
(Washington Post) Howard Schneider - Gaza and the West Bank represent opposite poles of a future state of Palestine, adding fresh obstacles to the quest for a two-state solution that envisions Israel and Palestine existing side by side. Gaza has become imbued with a narrow Islamist culture that considers Israel's elimination the ultimate goal; the West Bank, in contrast, has become relatively open and secular, with its government trying to resolve disputes with Israel through politics and diplomacy. In the process, the two Palestinian territories have grown increasingly antagonistic toward each other. Where the West Bank is enjoying renewed economic growth and an emerging sense of possibility, Gaza has become a place of makeshift jobs, handouts and smuggled goods. Doubts have deepened about how and whether two places so different can be knit back together.