As the first anniversary of the July 7 bombings in London nears, a new poll indicates that the British Muslim community is deeply divided over its place in British society.

The Times of London, in conducting an opinion poll of British Muslims, found that six percent of the community believes that the 7/7 bombers "were acting according to the true principles of Islam." Seven percent of those polled feel that suicide attacks on civilians can be "justified under certain circumstances," while that number grows to 16 percent if the attacks target the military.

However, the poll of more than 1,000 Muslims indicates that nearly two thirds of Muslims (64 per cent) think that no more than a tiny minority of their community sympathised with the 7/7 bombers, and 59 per cent of the general population believe the same.

A second poll, of non-Muslim adults, indicates that 58 per cent of the general population think it is unacceptable for police to view Muslims with greater suspicion because the 7/7 bombers were Muslim.

Only a third of Muslims believe that Britain's anti-terror laws are being applied fairly. Despite this, 35 per cent say that they would feel proud if a close family member joined the police. As many (37 per cent) said that they would accept it. By contrast, three quarters (78 per cent) said that they would be angry if a close relative joined al-Qaeda and only 2 per cent said they would be proud.

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The Scotsman reports that, with opinion polls indicating sympathy from some within the Muslim community for the 7/7 bombers' views, Prime Minister Tony Blair "effectively accused Muslims of tacitly supporting extremists."

"We are not having a debate of a fundamental enough nature within the community, which is where the moderate majority go and stand up against the ideas of those people, not just their methods," he told a committee of MPs at Westminster. He took particular aim at British Muslims who agree with the views of extremists but reject their methods.

Only by entirely rejecting even the beliefs of the radicals will terrorism ever be defeated, the Prime Minister said.

"People kind of say, 'We understand why you feel like this but you are wrong to do these things'. You are not going to defeat it like that. You are only going to defeat it if you say, 'You are wrong to feel that way'," Mr Blair said.

However, the Scotsman also notes that some politicians, including members of the prime minister's own Labour Party, feel the British government also bears responsibility. John Denham, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, expressed regret that the government "has done so little to win hearts and minds," while the Conservative Party's shadow attorney general, Dominic Grieve, said "The Prime Minister gives the impression this is a problem to be resolved in the Muslim community. I disagree - this is a collective problem."

The BBC reports that although seven groups were set up to deal with the government's relations with British Muslim communities, some of those involved with those groups doubt their effectiveness, and say the government fails to realize how its own policies help fuel Muslim extremism.

[Ashqar Bukhari from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee] said the groups contained too many Muslim leaders who were "incapable or wilfully refusing" to tackle extremism and did not involve enough young British-born Muslims.

Mr Bukhari is among those to say the government should accept its foreign policy has lead to anger within Muslim communities. "The government won't face up to the fact that it's foreign policy and not some crazy notion of an ideological problem," he told BBC News 24.

"That's where the solution begins. Once you know young people are angry about foreign policy, you can create an education program in Muslim institutions. You can say to them: 'If you are angry about foreign policy, that's fine, you can change it peacefully and democratically.' That's what they don't know. They're right to be angry - they're wrong in how they carry that anger forward."

Reuters reports that leaders of other British Muslim groups also cite the government's foreign policy as a cause of anger in the Muslim community.

"(Iraq) has been a great concern for Muslims. It is an ongoing concern, especially the situation in Palestine, Chechnya. These impact on the psyche of young people," said Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the moderate Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Britain's biggest Islamic group. "After 7/7 we recommended that there should be a public inquiry to see whether foreign policy had an impact. We are continuing to raise this."

Taji Mustafa, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organisation the government announced it intended to ban after the bombings, agrees.

"People expect the government, if it is sincere about looking at the causes of anger, to consider Iraq. It refuses to even countenance that as a possible factor," he told Reuters. "It seems to be interested in giving an appearance of doing something rather than actually tackling the issue at hand."

Regardless of the cause, the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims remains deep, according to the poll from The Times. It found that a significant portion of each community regards the other suspiciously: A quarter of the British public sees Islam as "a threat to the British way of life," while more than a third of British Muslims believe "British values threaten the Islamic way of life."

The greatest social difference between British Muslims and the rest of British society is over the wearing of Islamic dress in schools. Three quarters of Muslims (76 per cent) think that pupils should be free to wear religious dress whatever a school's uniform policy, but only two fifths (42 per cent) of the general population agree.

However, the poll also found that on practical matters, there is a high level of agreement between the two groups. Two-thirds of Muslims say their community needs to do more to integrate with British society, while nearly three-quarters of non-Muslims say the same. Muslims and non-Muslims also generally agree on the propriety of certain public behavior, such as public drunkenness and overly revealing women's clothing.

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Feedback appreciated. E-mail Arthur Bright.