Palestinian Arabs and Democracy: They Just Don't Get It

On Sunday, December 18, President Bush said in an address:

This election will not mean the end of violence. But it is the beginning of something new: constitutional democracy at the heart of the Middle East. And this vote -- 6,000 miles away, in a vital region of the world -- means that America has an ally of growing strength in the fight against terror. [emphasis added]

Which election was he talking about--the one in Iraq or the Palestinian election on January 25?

Need you ask?

And how do we know? As Diana West points out:

Then there's the Palestinian Authority. Election Day lies ahead (Jan. 25), but primary victories for Hamas already underscore the inability of foreign-made democratic machinery to produce anything akin to homegrown democratic candidates. Instead, we get People's Choice terrorists — convicted killer Marwan Barghouti, "mother of martyrs" Miriam Farhat, and "Hitler" (a.k.a. Jamal Abu Al-Rub), a real crowd-pleaser known for public execution-style slayings of suspected Israeli "collaborators." And these are People's Choice terrorists with attitude: When the European Union, rather surprisingly, discussed ending aid to the PA if Hamas won parliamentary seats next month, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal responded with Sons-of-Liberty-style rhetoric about the dangers of "playing with the values of democracy and freedom."

The dangers of "playing with the values of democracy and freedom"--yes, one good reason to stop supporting Abbas and his crew.

More to the point, as Gil Troy writes in his wordy but accurate title to his article: "Terrorists in suits and ties: Just because terrorists dress up as politicians and run for democratic office doesn't erase the fact they still are murderers":

What happens when a terrorist organization decides to enter the political arena? Does it automatically become legitimate?

...Western diplomats, who like shady salesmen with ties to organized crime, repeatedly strong-arm Israel into buying an increasingly shoddy product, are now pressuring it to accept representatives of an organization committed to Israel's destruction, as long as they are democratically elected.

...Democracy requires more than periodic elections. During the bad old days of communism, in Saddam Hussein's late unlamented regime, the world saw how strongmen could strong-arm voters into voting for them. But questions of the legitimacy of the electoral process among the Lebanese and the Palestinians aside, democracy demands the rule of law, respect for others, basic rights for all. An organization that commits mass-murder with no compunction cannot wipe out its crimes by winning some votes.

And, as we have certainly seen in the street killings within Palestinian cities and in the periodic Beirut bombings, a political culture that celebrates and consecrates mass murder becomes addicted to violence as a way of life internally and externally.

The numbers vary because the situation is fluid, but many Israeli newspapers reported this autumn that this year the numbers of Palestinians killed by fellow Palestinians in some sort of a political or public context - we are not talking crimes of passion - exceeded the number of Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists. And while the number of Israelis murdered by Palestinians has been dropping steadily in the last three years, thanks to Israel's security fence and its more effective counter-terrorist strategies, the number of Palestinians killed amid intra-Palestinian spats is growing.

...We cannot be fooled by them or by Hamas. Terrorists in suits and ties remain cold-blooded killers. Zero tolerance for terror demands an aggressive, consistent attempt to isolate the Hamas and Hizbollah murderers while pressuring the Palestinians and the Lebanese to eliminate these cancers eating away at their respective bodies politic, for their own sakes as well as for the many innocent lives already sacrificed and others still endangered by these murderous maestros of mayhem.

For all of President Bush's praising of the elections in Iraq, will he be able honestly to mention both Iraq and the PA in the same breath come January 25th?

And since the MSM is so intent in attacking Bush, one would think they could have a field day drawing attention to the disaster in trying to bring democracy to the PA--which could be an embarrasment to Bush. The fact they do not shows how deeply invested they too are in selling the Palestinian POV.

Technorati Tag: Palestinians.