Fear and Loathing in the Middle East

I am currently reading the article " Islamic Resistance in Palistine: Hamas, the Gaza War and the Future of Political Islam" by Dr. Seif Da’na, and I'm learning about how these wars [uprisings or coups] have changed the Middle East and how the outside world is reacting to all this. As an American, I have seen coverage of the various violent acts in that part of the world my entire life, and the basic message I have always received is that they have no clue what they want, but they are willing to die to get it. The way the world defines the Middle East is by these wars. Anytime someone mentions the Middle East, immediately images of suicide bombings and neighborhoods as war zones enter the imagination. Violence has become synonymous with Islam. Dr. Da'na argues in this article, this violence is linked to colonization. Da'na explains that the constant colonization of the Middle East has led to a basic breakdown of the Arab civilization which then leads to the need to reclaim the missing pieces of the puzzle, usually through violence. Unfortunately, these violent acts have the opposite effect and only lead to further intervention by outsiders. It's a self-perpetuating cycle. The "new Islam", is trying to put an end to this by "reinventing" Islam in order to generate a more peaceful interaction between the Western world and the Middle East. Da'na argues that this shift is toward a more liberal, more secularized Islam that is based on a decline in state intervention, specifically in the economy, and by combining nationalism and religion.
To me, this means that the Islamic world is trying to redefine themselves with Western guidelines in mind, while still trying to stay true to their religious roots. Islam has always been a dynamic religion that is able to bend, shift, and change to adapt to the current cultural surroundings easily. While this reinvention may mean less violence in the Middle East, it also means conforming to popular trends. The kind of rich culture found in the Middle East is something to be envied by our empty consumer culture in the West. If colonization created the problems in the Middle East, then the real solution should be for outsiders to back off, not have an ancient culture redefine themselves to mesh with what is popular. It would be nice for the violence in the Middle East to end, but it can only stop if we recognize who is really at fault and who really needs a make-over.