The ONLY Democracy in the Middle...

15 posts / 0 new

Mon, 2009-01-12 04:19

Cueball

... set to ban influential Arab party

Quote:
Kadima confirmed that it would support the motions: "The power of democracy lies not only in giving minorities their due representation, but in its obligation to defend itself against those wishing to use its freedoms to destroy it.

"Balad," added the party's statement, "is trying to undermine Israel's identity as a Jewish state…which contradicts the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, Balad still reveres (former Chairman) Azmi Bishara, who partnered and still works with Israel's worst enemies."

Mon, 2009-01-12 05:47

Michelle

Waidaminit...I thought Palestine actually had a democratic election too...oh yeah, the west doesn't like who won it. I forgot. Okay, Israel's the only democracy in the Middle East, then...

Mon, 2009-01-12 09:47

Bubbles

Sounds like they want to save democracy by destroying it.

Harper must have wet dreams about that.

Tue, 2009-01-13 19:14

Cueball

A full half of Arab MK's are thus banned from mainstream politics in Israel's rush to full blown National-Fascism:

Arab parties disqualified from elections

Quote:
Balad was disqualified by a vote of 26 to three, with one abstention, while 21 committee members voted in favor of disqualifying the United Arab List-Ta'al, with eight members voting against and two members abstaining. The Central Elections Committee is comprised of members of all party factions.

Tue, 2009-01-13 20:31

Bubbles

"THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX – Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says Israel is justified in taking military action to defend itself against attacks by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.

"Canada has to support the right of a democratic country to defend itself," he told reporters in Halifax today after speaking to a forum of business leaders on the economy. "

(Ignatieff from a Toroto Star article)

He will have to do some back tracking now that Israel is no longer a democracy, if it ever was.

Tue, 2009-01-13 21:17

Bubbles

Actualy now the only democracy in the Middle East is Gaza, with the elected Hamas. And it is being attacked by a race based state.

How are our politicians going to explain their support of this attack on the only democracy in the Middle East?

Tue, 2009-01-13 21:56

Cueball

Well it depends, on how you look at it, and how wide you cast your net.

However tainted the democratic process is in Iran, and Egypt and Lebanon, the fact is that none of those have set up policies that directly undermine the rights of the electorate, such as they may be, based on the ethnicity of voters. Also, Turkey has a fairly strong Democratic tradtion.

I don't identify Iraq as a functionting state, and Saudi Arabia and the gulf monarchies are not Fascist but autocracies. That really only leaves Syria as the only other state that might be qualified as having Fascist tendencies.

But then again, this racialist re-organizing of the democratic process, suggests that Israel is heade for a National-Fascist poltical formulation as yet unseen in the region. The suggestion by the ILP that Ballad be banned as a terrorist organization suggests this.

My prediction is that we are going to see full on ethnic cleansing of all Arabs from Israel, and most of the OT, in the next ten years. Making Gaza unlivable, only needs to be followed up by convincing Egypt to open up its doors to the waiting refugees.

The only question that remains, really is who is going to pay the Egyptians off, for the service. Probably it will be on our tab: UN sponsored camps and so on and so forth.

Once they are in the camps, the Israeli's can blame the Nakba II on the Arabs, saying that the privation of the Arab refugees is a result of the failure of the Arabs to "take care of their own".

Tue, 2009-01-13 22:46

Tom Vouloumanos

This maybe close to what state planners envisage, there has been much discussion of the demographic problem a euphemism that means that the Palestinian population of Israel and the OT are about equal to the Jewish population and given low Jewish immigration and high Arab birth rates...well you get the picture. State planners it seems are obsesed with this issue and are looking ahead.

I think they don't care about any territory in Gaza and are trying to annex as much land as possible from the West Bank but as free of Palestinians as possible. This is pretty much the Rabin-Peres plan of disconnected Bantustans. Of course East Jerusalem will not be relinquished. This would leave Gaza and these disconnected Bantustans in the WB without East Jerusalem (the political, economic, social and cultural heart of any Palestinian state.) As such, a Palestinian State would be impossible and would lead Gaza to Egypt and some sort of Jordanian-Israeli joint rule over the dead-end reserves in the WB.

For all out ethnic cleansing, the only way this can be achieved is via an all out regional war. I am not sure that the IDF would be able to win such a war. They really haven't won a war since 1982...and people are far more knowledgeable and mobilized than in 1967. The implications of a regional war are very scary and things,as they are unfolding, seem to be headed down this road. This doen't have to be so. The likelihood of such a catastrophe that can quickly spread and even escalate to the use of nuclear arms depends alot on us.

Tue, 2009-01-13 22:46

Bubbles

That is a rather bleak picture you paint there, Cueball.

If Israel succeeds in this ethnic cleansing with the support of our leaders then the future could even be bleaker for our aboriginal people then it is now.

Iran starts to make sense in this context too. If Iran gets nuclear weapons then Israel will be depending on the US for protection. Iran without nuclear weapons would give Israel much more room to roam independent from the US.

We cannot let it happen, it is that simple. But that is easy to say.

Tue, 2009-01-13 23:04

#10

Cueball

In this context Egypt's rather harsh refusal to open the Gaza border begins to make a really ruthless kind of realpoltic sense. By confining the population to Gaza, Egypt is forcing Israel to deal with the issue directly. Also, rather than destablizing Egypt, as a mass influx of angry and militant refugees would, they are destabalizing Israel, itself.

But, lets note that the call for Egypt to open her borders to refugees has already begun:

Quote:
Civilians wishing to flee Gaza must be permitted to do so, stresses UN refugee chief

"Those who are compelled to flee the Gaza Strip should be able to do so and to find safety and security in other countries according to international law," UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in a statement issued yesterday.

There has been no large-scale movement out of Gaza because of the Israeli blockade. However, Mr. Guterres urged that "all borders and access routes concerned should be kept open and safe, and Palestinians endeavouring to leave Gaza should not be prevented from doing so."

Tue, 2009-01-13 23:52

#11

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Cueball wrote:

But, lets note that the call for Egypt to open her borders to refugees has already begun:

There is nothing in that press release that is specifically directed to Egypt. The call for neighbouring states to accept Gazan refugees is equally applicable to Israel, which of course bears the sole responsibility for creating the refugee crisis.

Wed, 2009-01-14 00:01

#12

Cueball

Seriously? You are suggesting that the UN commissioner for refugees is advocating the right of return for the Palestinian refugees?

Wed, 2009-01-14 00:12

#13

martin dufresne

"However tainted the democratic process is in Iran, and Egypt and Lebanon, the fact is that none of those have set up policies that directly undermine the rights of the electorate," wrote Cueball.

Hasn't Egypt banned the Muslim Brothers from running as such in national elections? And jailed quite a few of its leaders?

Wed, 2009-01-14 00:34

#14

Cueball

Yes, but its notable that there is nothing distinctly "ethnic" about being a member of the MB. That ban is political.

As I explained in the rest of the sentence, you did not include: "...such as they may be, based on the ethnicity of voters."

The Israeli ban is a direct invocation of race politics. This is compounded by the suggested direct ban on Ballad as an organization, as "terrorist". To me this is a dangerous first step in the direction of disenfranchising Israeli-Arabs as an ethnic community, and a possible prelude to even worse attacks upon Israeli Arabs.

Wed, 2009-01-14 10:52

#15

thorin_bane

Michelle wrote:
Waidaminit...I thought Palestine actually had a democratic election too...oh yeah, the west doesn't like who won it. I forgot. Okay, Israel's the only democracy in the Middle East, then...

The paper had and article from canadian press that said "hamas took over Gaza in a bloody Military coup"

So you are saying the southamham news a subsidary of Canwest was lying