BAD START IN GAZA

The Washington Post feigns shock that a culture founded on terrorism would bring chaos wherever it goes:

ONLY DAYS after the final withdrawal of Israeli forces, the Gaza Strip is on the verge of anarchy. Despite promises to impose law and order, the Palestinian Authority has allowed mobs of looters and armed extremists to rampage through former Jewish settlements, where they have burned or bulldozed synagogues left standing by Israel. Many of the valuable greenhouses that, with the generous help of international donors, were saved for use by the Palestinians have been stripped of equipment as police stood by and watched. Despite a formal agreement with Israel to maintain security, Egypt has allowed thousands of Palestinians to illegally cross its border, including rifle-brandishing militants. If it is not quickly checked, the disorder will destroy Palestinian hopes that the Gaza transfer will become a step toward statehood.

Gaza will be al Qaeda's point of entry into Israel. Egypt and the hapless Palestinian Authority will allow it to happen. There will soon be al Qaeda training camps in Gaza. The work of Afghanistan--destroying al Qaeda's home base--could be undone within weeks. This will obviously have negative effects on the war against al Qaeda in Iraq going on not too far away.

It's not surprising that terror and anarchy went with the Palestinians into formerly occupied Gaza--their ambitions for statehood rest on a foundation of decades of terrorism. It's surprising that the press is so far reporting on the Gaza anarchy with some degree of honesty. It will be surprising if that continues for very long.

MORE: Arms smuggling into Gaza is surging:

Israeli military sources said hundreds of weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank rockets and bomb components, have been smuggled over the last three days from the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip.

The sources said Palestinian insurgents brought the equipment from Egypt in wake of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

So far, more than 10,000 Palestinians have crossed the Gaza border and made their way to towns in eastern and northern Sinai. The sources said they included hundreds of operatives from Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, some of whom directed the flow of Palestinians into Sinai.

Now why would these nice people need all those nasty weapons?

UPDATE: Some Palestinians foresaw the chaos that Israeli withdrawal would leave behind:

"We know once Israel leaves, Hamas is in power. A lot of the Palestinians in Gaza are really upset about this because life won't be good for us," said Mahmoud.

With Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza evacuation plan drawing closer, and Hamas swiftly gaining power in the area, analysts have pointed to worrying signs the terror group will use its gains to impose a Taliban-like Islamist regime on the Palestinians in Gaza.

Hamas recently banned an open-air music and dance festival, saying it was against Islam. Israeli sources say Hamas has established its own hard-line Islamic court system in Gaza that is being used in the place of the Palestinian Authority's official judicial system.

There have been reports of a Hamas Anti-Corruption Unit, described by intelligence sources as a kind of "morality police," enforcing hard-line Islamic rules on local residents. The Unit recently carried out a high-profile "honor killing" of a woman it suspected of committing adultery.

"We are treated much better in Israel than by Palestinians in charge," said Saed.

That Hamas Taliban-like regime will soon become the Taliban's actual successor. It will become one of the most repressive quasi-states in the world, and it will host al Qaeda forces.

And we won't be able to do a thing about it. Unless we plan on invading Gaza.

The "roadmap to peace" will have led to the creation of a brand new terrorist state.

ONE LAST THOUGHT: From Iran:

Iran is willing to provide other Islamic nations with nuclear technology, Iran's hard-line president said Thursday.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the comments after meeting Turkey's prime minister on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Ahmadinejad repeated promises that Iran will not pursue nuclear weapons, IRNA reported. Then he added: "Iran is ready to transfer nuclear know-how to the Islamic countries due to their need."

Does the PA count as an "Islamic country?"