In
the Middle East, the question has been whether the PLO would make the
transition from terrorist organization to peace partner; from
negotiating for hostages to negotiating at the table; from an
organization devoted to a single ruthless leader dedicated to planning
terrorist attacks, to an enlightened pluralistic government capable of
running a country.
The
twenty-year experiment in Palestinian self-governance from 1993 to 2013
has been a disaster for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Palestinian
Arab’s self-rule has exposed a corrupt regime that persecutes its
citizens and endangers its neighbors. The lesson: Peace will not bring
democracy. Democracy is the prerequisite to peace.
The fact that democracies rarely trigger wars was an underlying principle behind the concept of self-rule for Palestinians. The assumption was that Palestinian self-rule would be democratic.
From Terrorist to Peace Partner
Proponents
of the Oslo Accords expected that the Palestinians, of all people in
the Third World, including the Arab world, would prove to be the
exception to the rule. They noted that Palestinians were among the most
highly educated Arabs in the Middle East (partially because Israel
established universities for them after 1967 - as part of a policy of
enlightened occupation).
Unlike
other Arabs, Palestinians had direct contact with a model of democracy
in Israel. Many worked in the Jewish state, learned Hebrew and watched
Israeli TV, visited Israeli malls and beaches, and were familiar with
Israeli life and politics.
By September 2013, two decades had passed since the Oslo Accords and the implementation of self-rule. What have we learned?
After
twenty years of gradual self-rule, with 97 percent of Palestinians in
the West Bank and Gaza living under their own government and after more
than three years of guerrilla warfare [the second intifada] using
suicide bombers to target civilians, the hard lesson is: Peace will not
bring democracy. Democracy will bring freedom and peace.
The
Palestinian Authority, by any governmental standard - let alone
democracy - has failed miserably to meet the expectations of its
citizens or those of the international community.
Signing
the Oslo Accords in 1993 required Palestinian leadership to establish
democratic institutions as a key requirement for a lasting peace
agreement. Subsequent agreements reemphasized that point. Although
Palestinians made cosmetic changes that made them “look” democratic,
neutral international observers found true democracy had failed to take
root.
When
one measures the Palestinians’ performance against eight accepted
provisions and rights of democracies, a dismal picture of Palestinian
society emerges.
Democracies guarantee fair and competitive elections.
Democracies
vest power in the people either directly or indirectly by a system of
representation based on periodic, free elections. They disdain and
reject hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges and are
structured to advance social, economic, and political pluralism.
The
Palestinian Authority is an authoritarian system, though a legislative
council was mandated and created under the Oslo Accords. The council has
little power, mainly because of Arafat’s previous influence over the
actual movers and shakers, and his control over funding, which severely
limits the council’s independence.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was
elected in January 2005 as the President of the PA, for a term of
four-years that streched all the way to present time. Abbas has held
power and never called for election, no matter the rule. The way things are going, Abbas may be staying in office for even longer. So much for “Top Democracy.”
Majorities
rule democracies, although laws and institutions protect the rights of
all citizens, including minority groups and their rights to freedom of
religion.
The
Palestinian Authority denies Jews access to religious sites within its
jurisdiction. It acquiesces to mob rule, allows the desecration of
religious sites that are not Muslim and has compromised the neutrality
and sanctity of Christian sites, including the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem.
The rights of other minorities, including the very lives homosexuals, are constantly jeopardized. The
Palestinian power structure views Christians with suspicion and as
unpatriotic because they refuse to send their children to violent
demonstrations. Not one Christian Arab has ever volunteered to be a
suicide bomber.
Democracies guarantee women the same rights and protections as men.
Palestinian
society relegates women to second-class status, just as does the rest
of the Arab world. Palestinian girls and women are freer than their
counterparts in most Arab countries in terms of personal autonomy,
education and career choices. But Palestinian society is stained by
so-called honor killings, a tradition that allows male relatives to
murder females in their families for si
ns such as adultery, pregnancies out of wedlock, premarital sex and even
immodesty and flirting. The Palestinian Authority has not classed honor
killing as regular a crime. The religious leadership empathizes with
the perpetrators, not the victims, and as in other Arab states, the
government fails to protect a woman’s right to life. Honor killings by
Palestinians in Israel are considered murder.
Evidence
suggests that the first Palestinian female suicide bomber may been
driven to her actions to provide herself with an ‘honorable exit’ from
desperate circumstances. Some in the Arab media champion female suicide
bombers as the “ultimate feminists,” because when they perform terrorist
acts, they achieve equal status to their male counterparts.
Democracies require transparent, accountable governments.
There
is no equal opportunity in the PA civil service. Control of essential
services and appointment of senior positions are given to relatives and
cronies of a small circle of top officials, or based on one’s place in
the social order based on the applicants’ hamula (or clan). Graft, kickbacks and old-fashioned extortion are rampant.
A
Palestinian legislative committee found that a large percentage of the
PA’s $3.54 billion annual budget, a majority coming from foreign aid and
donations, is squandered through corruption and mismanagement. In 2003,
Forbes’ annual rating of the world’s richest persons ranked the ‘oppressed’ late Arafat just behind Queen Elizabeth.
Democracies’
judicial systems guarantee their citizens equality before the law, due
process and place constitutional limits on government.
The
Palestinian Authority imprisons critics, employs harassment and torture
to intimidate non-Muslims and other prisoners, and convenes
quickie-trials for suspected terrorists Israel seeks to extradite. The
PA tries and sentences the terrorists for harming Palestinian interests,
not for killing innocent human beings. The offenders are then
incarcerated in prisons that former White House press secretary Ari
Fleischer described as having “revolving doors.”
Democracies
champion values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation and compromise,
by upholding freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Moderate
and peaceful Palestinian Arabs have been silenced for years. The
Palestinian Authority controls the media, and journalists face
intimidation and confiscation of “uncomplimentary footage” or copy. A
culture of compromise and reconciliation has not become part of
Palestinian life, and disputes are still resolved by bloodshed and blood
feuds. The same approach governs Palestinian negotiations with Israel,
as when they demand Israel capitulate on the Right of Return.
Palestinians show no signs of seeking peace and reconciliation.
Democracies
support educational systems that promote democratic values, because a
well-informed citizenry is vital to a healthy democracy.
The
Palestinian Authority uses its schools to imbue children with hatred
against Jews, incites them to violence and nurtures generations of
future shahids - suicide bombers - willing to become martyrs who forfeit their lives to kill Jews.
Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” The PA fails to make the grade on all counts.
Peace Does Not Bring Democracy. Democracy Brings Peace:
BECAUSE democracies
hammer out their differences on a daily, weekly, and yearly basis at
the polls, in coalitions, in legislative and public debates aimed at
reaching compromises and live-and-let-live solutions, they prefer
non-violent conflict resolution (e.g., negotiation and arbitration) to
violence.
BECAUSE
democracies have a built-in system of checks and balances to prevent
absolute power, they rarely use force in domestic affairs or in the
international arena.
BECAUSE
democracies do not use their security forces to sustain and protect
their respective regimes, they rarely use them as an instrument to
intimidate their neighbors.
BECAUSE democracies
place a high value on human life, they are sensitive to the
cost-benefit ratio of armed conflict and not just the cost benefit of
changing the status quo by force.
BECAUSE democratic
governments rest on the consent of the governed and because the armed
forces are subservient to civil authority and not a small inner circle,
decisions to go to war are hard to make.
IN A NUTSHELL
· Palestinian Arab leaders must ‘walk the walk’ in transforming their political institutions into peaceful, democratic entities before they have another opportunity at statehood.
· Whether
a newly appointed Palestinian Authority prime minister will want or
will be able to bring about democratic reform and negotiate in earnest
remains to be seen. Until Palestinian leaders and
Palestinian society make the necessary changes in government, in their
society, and in core values, Palestinian statehood could turn into a
peril not only for Israelis, but also for those who champion their
cause. The last thing the world needs right now is another rogue state.
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