For any Palestinian hoping for an end to violence, an economic future and an eventual peace settlement, the triumph in Gaza by Hamas militants is a disaster. It signals the end of cross-border talks for the foreseeable future; prolonged international isolation; and the prospect of repressive rule by a clique of narrow-minded extremists ready to enforce harsh punishment on all those – women, secularists or liberals – who do not conform to their intolerant ideology.

But it is not only the 1.4 million people in the foetid and impoverished Gaza Strip who are the victims. Palestinians everywhere have been appalled. The past two days of murderous violence have effectively destroyed hopes of viable Palestinian statehood. They have split the West Bank and Gaza into two rival administrations. They have underlined the Palestinians’ own inability to govern themselves. They have entrenched in the heart of the Middle East a movement almost as extreme as those intent on destroying Iraq.

The comprehensive victory of Hamas gunmen is a challenge for all in the region. For the Israelis, it spells the end of any immediate prospect of a two-state solution, raises fears of renewed rocket attacks and could prompt calls for a costly military intervention. For the Europeans and other members of the Quartet – the Americans, Russians and the United Nations – it undermines attempts to revive peace talks and persuade the now defunct Palestinian “unity” Government to recognise Israel. And for neighbouring Arab states, the Hamas victory is a devastating blow to their recent diplomatic push for peace, directly endangers their own faltering governments and will prompt widespread unease at the huge boost that it has given to Islamist extremism across the region.

Such is the alarm among all Arab governments that they called an emergency meeting of the Arab League yesterday to discuss possible intervention. It is hard to see what could come of this suggestion. Hamas has already rejected the stationing of any international force in, or on the borders of, Gaza. Few Arab governments would be willing to send in troops to dislodge Hamas gunmen from the administrative offices that they now occupy or risk guerrilla warfare in the narrow alleyways of the Gaza slums. Arab governments will denounce the West’s economic boycott for fuelling the economic collapse and despair in Gaza. But they have largely themselves to blame. When the European Union was funding the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), wealthy Arab governments contributed almost no money to it and made no effort to warn Fatah about its misuse of aid – an abuse that sparked anger and the election of a Hamas government.

Blockade drains life from Gaza

The movement of goods into Gaza had been intermittent at best since Hamas won Palestinian elections early last year

Multimedia

• Pictures: Johnston is released

• Video: unarmed protester confronts gunman in Gaza

• Pictures: life in Gaza

BACKGROUND

• Israel continues Gaza blitz as 310 dead

• Q&A: Hamas and Gaza

• 97 days and counting for BBC's man in Gaza

• Now war is with the enemy within

• The little girl trapped by a quirk of war

The Arab governments, together with the Quartet, are now desperately seeking ways to contain the damage. All are standing behind Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate head of the Palestinian Authority. All recognise, however, that his writ now extends only to the West Bank, still dominated by his own Fatah party. Their aim therefore is to bolster his standing in his now truncated PA. The West and Israel are therefore considering a rapid easing of financial sanctions – which, they argue, is now possible as the Hamas-led Government has now been dissolved. The secular Fatah faction and other “moderates” in the West Bank can be helped by the swift release of funds that would immediately lift the lot of public sector workers, boost employment and raise hope among the 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants – as well as setting an example that might, in time, persuade the desperate people in Gaza to throw off the domination of an extremist faction that has no interest in democracy, tolerance or economic advance.

Some will argue that the violence of the past week is no more that another upsurge of the factionalism and internecine rivalry that have repeatedly dealt blows to Palestinian hopes. This is naive. Something fundamental has changed in Gaza. Secular politics has been replaced with Islamist extremism, rational argument with zealotry that has no wish to engage but to conquer. This, to many Arabs, is the spillover from Iraq, the triumph of a revolution that began with the Ayatollah Khomeini and has now affected politics across the Middle East. Those Arab governments that have seen the need for reform, that are desperate to ward off popular unrest, are deeply worried by what has happened. They – and the Israelis – must redouble efforts to end the political stalemate, however impossible any initiative seems in Gaza. But in the end it is only the Palestinians who can prevent the collapse of their aspirations. They must take responsibility for what has happened. For they, again, are the victims.