Basically, exactly what they want the governments and politicians in Western Islamic, ie those individuals and groups who believe that their system of government should be based on Islamic principles? I, as a Muslim moderate, eager to establish relations based on understanding and communication with the different peoples of the West and other places, I have great difficulty in answering this question. From twenty years, a moderate type of thought is felt in political Islam, a thought that would reconcile Islamic teachings with modern life, and, after years of stagnation, to find solutions acceptable from the point of Islamic view, many problems particularly difficult. Moderate Muslims today fully support democracy, and their thinking reflects an obvious respect for civil liberties and human rights. This contemporary

thought is not in itself anti-Western. Of course, take different positions on some issues, but a balanced speech, which distinguishes clearly between governments and civil society organizations. It is a discourse that recognizes that the West is not a homogeneous bloc, which includes the fact that this involves a series of clearly visible differences. This does not preclude, in most environments Western official (if not all), you react to this political evolution of Islam with great circumspection. While the intellectuals is that the groups and research institutes have expressed a desire to pursue opportunities for dialogue with moderate Muslims, on the other hand, at an official level of government there are always little to participate in this discussion despite all the conferences and other meetings devoted to this problem. I understand that in the West, policy makers may have safety concerns when they have to do with Muslims. But you can start from the assumption that these same politicians are intelligent, informed and wise enough to understand that Islamic activists are not all terrorists and that terrorist groups are critical of both the moderate Islamic West. The Muslim Brothers are not al-Qaeda, the political thought of Khayrat el-Shater, number two of the Muslim Brotherhood, and that of Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the leading ideologues of al-Qaeda, have almost no similarity. Indeed, this diversity within political Islam should lead the western politicians to deal with the moderate trends. Strengthening them would undermine the thesis of the most radical, whereby the possibility of a non-violent reform is now blurred. These leaders should to start to dialogue with the moderates and allow them to have access, as democratically elected representatives, the political institutions of their respective countries. I understand also that some defenders of Western democracy have their doubts about the commitment of democratic Islam. They fear even the well-known slogan: "one man, one vote, one time, which suggests that if some Muslim political leaders were to achieve power through democratic will ensure that no other party has the same opportunity after another. However, the facts prove exactly the opposite. The elections of the professional unions in Egypt and the elections in Turkey and Morocco, to consider only these examples show clearly that the parties anchored to respect Islamic political thought systems within which they choose to tackle their opponents. The more integrated, comply with the procedures of democracy. Some political leaders and representatives of civil society in the West are concerned for the position of Islam with regard to personal rights and civil liberties. Their prejudices in this regard are due to the fact that they put all our eggs in one bundle, whereas the same all Islamic political activists, and ignoring anything that might differentiate them. In fact, some moderate Islamic movements would be better able to protect and promote the rights of the person in the Muslim world than are regimes currently in power. Most current schemes sees his popularity low, something to which they respond by using illegal methods, in contempt for human rights, to reduce to silence the opposition. Without doubt, the Western states and those non-Muslims will be considered on all issues. Even within the Western world, the politicians are in disagreement about this or that aspect of personal rights - the death penalty, abortion - and how to transpose it into legislation. Decisions of this nature are often based on majority values within each society. The important thing is that the fundamental rights consecrated by international treaties are ratified and adhered to. Today, the concerns of human rights activists operating in our region should rather relate to the statistics that show increasing percentage on the use of torture and harassment against the directors of the newspapers and the media, on the appeal to the courts military to try civilians, the illegal detention, violence against women, poverty and the absence of democracy. Today, politicians of moderate Islamic tendencies subscribe unreservedly to the principles of democracy, press freedom and the equality of citizens. This simple fact alone should normalize most of the problems of human rights in the Middle East. We must not commit the mistake of judging the position of Islamic human rights as by the attitude of some right-wing Islamic movements. The writings of intellectuals such as Youssef al-Qaradawi, Tariq el-Bishry, Selim el-AWWA and others, demonstrate a high level of respect for human rights and civil liberties. I find great difficulty in understanding why, unlike the civil society organizations, Western governments are reluctant to engage in a healthy dialogue with moderate Muslims. Not arrive to understand their embarrassed silence in the face of violation of the rights of these militants from authoritarian powers that prohibit any involvement in their political life and send them to prison hundreds. What is even more difficult to understand the party made clear that testify Westerners do not speak when the verb when they are sent back to Egypt before the military tribunals acquitted moderate Muslims from the civil courts. The leaders of Western governments should respond positively in the face of the steps forward made by Islamic moderates. EVADING any dialogue with the moderate voices of Islam politics, Western governments are slowly handing the victory to the extremists, of which they themselves - along with supporters of political moderate - both want to get rid of. Ibrahim el-Houdaiby is a member of the Board of IkhwanWeb.com, the official website of the English-language Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun)