Slowtwitch.com Main Index MAIN
INDEX 		Forum Rules & Legend RULES &
LEGEND 		Log in LOG
IN 		 
 
 
Search for (options)
Newsletter Signup

Slowtwitch Forums: Lavender Room:
Sharansky speaks, best to listen

 
  Tri ForumClassifiedsLavender RoomJobsThe Womens


ajfranke

Aug 8, 08 5:52

Post #1 of 2 (132 views)
Sharansky speaks, best to listen Can't Post
There is probably no wiser writer in the world about the power and importance of freedom to improve people's living conditions. He has an article in the WSJ today which is difficult to excerpt, though I post a few paragraphs below. After a promising first few years, Bush/Rice have simply reverted to the failed policies of propping up corrupt leaders in the Palestinian territories by throwing money and attention at them.

http://online.wsj.com/...on_main_commentaries

A tragic peace process turned to farce last weekend. After bloody clashes between Hamas and Fatah loyalists in the Gaza strip killed 11 Palestinians and injured 120 more, nearly 200 Palestinians associated with Fatah sought asylum in Israel.

The irony of the present situation boggles the mind. In 1993, then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin defended the Oslo accords he signed with Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organization to a somewhat skeptical Israeli public by arguing that Arafat would fight Hamas much better than Israel, since he had "no Supreme Court and no Betselem" (an Israeli human-rights organization).


Israel, America and the free world share much of the blame for this fiasco. As Arafat and his Fatah party were busy hollowing out Palestinian civil society and turning control of the Palestinian economy over to corrupt cronies, the world showered them with money and diplomatic support. Hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred to Arafat's private slush fund so that he could "strengthen" his standing among the Palestinians. But the corrupt dictatorship he built would win him and his party only the lasting scorn of his people.


If Israelis and Palestinians are to pave a path toward peace, they must pursue a radically different course. The peace process must be linked to building and strengthening Palestinian civil society. In June 2002, President Bush boldly declared a vision based on such a course and took some steps to implement it -- such as refusing to deal with corrupt leaders (Arafat), and meeting Palestinian democratic dissidents. But in the final analysis, his administration did not fundamentally change direction. It is now pursuing a course that essentially resuscitates the failed policies of the past.
It is high time that Palestinian civil society be fully recognized by the international community as a prerequisite to peace, not as an obstacle to it. If Palestinian civil society is not empowered, the Fatah-controlled West Bank may soon be ruled by Hamas, and Fatah leaders there may find themselves one day having to rely on Israel's Supreme Court to save them.
____
This forum is going to be a place of civil discourse, and those who wish to foment hate and discord are no longer welcome here. -- slowman 11/8/04

Art Franke


squid

Aug 8, 08 7:20

Post #2 of 2 (104 views)
Re: Sharansky speaks, best to listen [ajfranke] [In reply to] Can't Post
Bush/Rice have simply reverted to the failed policies of propping up corrupt leaders in the Palestinian territories

The US has a long history of propping up corrupt governments. It's one of the things we're good at.



(This post was edited by squid on Aug 8, 08 7:21)