It is simply not the United States' business to dictate to the Arab states which form of government their society chooses.
The big difference is the Israelis are using this "we are the only true democracy" propaganda in the Middle East when it is, at best, a very selective democracy for Jews
And why IS it the United States' business to tell Israel how to run its democracy, if it is NOT the United States' business to tell the Arab states how to run their (far worse, from any human rights perspective at all) states? What's the lesson here? If you really stink, it's your right to be let alone, but if you're pretty good under difficult circumstances, then we have every right to scold you endlessly?
And Israel is not a selective democracy only for Jews; a million Arabs are citizens of Israel and have equal rights under the law. They do suffer discrimination but even so their human rights situation beats any Arab in any Arab state hands down, let alone minority status in the Arab states, which is why none of them are eager to wind up in Palestine, though naturally they don't advertise this too loudly. It's just the territories that have a military government.
It's more than evident no Arab nations will ever accept the Palestinian refugees into their nation for assimilation.
Except the one who already has -- Jordan, whose population is 80% Palestinian. And no assimilation required, not if you are talking about Lebanon or Syria or Jordan for the West Bankers, or Egypt for the Gazans; there is no cultural difference to speak of. Some of the most prominent Palestinians were born in Egypt, like Yasser Arafat and Edward Said. And why the hell shouldn't Lebanon or Syria also give citizenship to the Palestinians who have been born in their countries for four generations already? It was the Arabs who started the Arab/Israeli wars that are at the root of the problem, after all.
the oppression and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has now created such a culture
The occupation that has REALLY created such a culture is not the Israeli occupation, but the Tunisian occupation.
My answer is that a separate country on the West Bank makes no sense economically and less than no sense politically, considering the way the Palestinians have run their affairs so far. No national movement on the planet has done less with more, unless you're measuring pointless hatred and violence. I would prefer to see the West Bank go back to Jordan, but that's unlikely. In the absence of that, I would prefer some kind of Mandate that would allow the conditions for a real democracy, which I believe the majority of the Palestinians want and know more of than any other Arabs, since they have lived with their noses pressed to the glass of Israeli democracy for thirty-five years. |
