PALESTINE: Nation in Prison, Democracy Betrayed
In an editorial the Arab News says:
The Arab League’s decision Sunday in Cairo to break the economic embargo imposed by the United States and Europe on the Hamas-led Palestinian administration was long overdue. Indeed it may be asked why any Arab state ever subscribed to this unjust punishment of a country, simply because its people had elected a government that Washington did not like. Hamas’ crime in American eyes was that it refused to recognize Israel and had used terror tactics, including suicide bombers. Yet no such sanctions were ever contemplated against Israel, which does not recognize Palestine and uses its own terror tactics to slay far greater number of Palestinians than the number of Israelis who fall victim to militant violence.
The people in the United States voted for Bush and the Palestinians elected Hamas led government. I am not a big fan of the Bush Adminstration or Hamas!
However, democracy is an expression of the political will of free people and sometimes it produces what some people may perceive as undesirable outcomes. However, the West cannot say, “We want to see democratized Middle East†and at the same time oppose the verdict that the very democratic political process they claim to advocate has delivered. To me that is an immoral double standard which the Muslim world must reject outright!
In short, the Arab League did the right thing to reject the misguided US policy towards the Palestinian people.