Sharansky urges West to help Palestinians build a 'real democracy'

Jerusalem Post ^ | 6-27-02 | HERB KEINON

[SJackson]

"If liberty can blossom in the rocky soil of the West Bank and Gaza, it will inspire millions of men and women around the globe who are equally weary of poverty and oppression, equally entitled to the benefits of democratic government," US President George W. Bush said in a rhetorical flourish during his Monday night speech.

In Israel, both on the Right and the Left, these words were shrugged off to a large extent as quintessential "American naivete." One Ma'ariv columnist wrote in a mocking tone that Bush told the Palestinians that before they can begin dreaming of a state, "they need to turn into a Jeffersonian-style democracy, New England on the banks of the Jordan."

But one man who did not snicker, and in fact greeted these words with a sense that a thesis he has been propounding for just under a decade was finally gaining currency, was Construction and Housing Minister Natan Sharansky.

"There are those who say that democracy is foreign to Islam," Sharansky said yesterday. "But I can bring you quotes from American experts who said Japan would never be democratic, because it is a different world, that Russia would never be democratic, that Spain would never be democratic, that Latin America would never be democratic."

Indeed, Sharansky argued these points last weekend at an American Enterprise Institute conference in Aspen, Colorado attended by US Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz According to Sharansky, those who say democracy can never take hold in other societies are actually saying this to justify why they support dictators.

The West has historically felt, Sharansky said, that the simplest way to protect itself from the dictators is to support them so they will be friendly. "This thesis fails time after time," he said.

Echoes of this thesis, Sharansky said, were heard in Yitzhak Rabin's statement soon after the Oslo Accords that "when the Palestinians in Gaza are responsible for taking care of their own internal problems, they will handle them without a Supreme Court, without B'tselem [the human rights organization], and without all kinds of bleeding-heart liberals."

One of underlying assumptions of Oslo, Sharansky wrote in an April letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was that a strong leader will bring about a strong peace. Arafat, Sharansky said, "exploited this belief by investing every dollar and shekel he received in encouraging the inflammatory hatred of Israel and in construction of a terrorist infrastructure to be used against Israel. Given a choice between peace and economic prosperity versus terror and tyranny, Arafat always chose the later option."

Bush, Sharansky said, realizes this, and this is why he called for the radical reform of the Palestinian leadership.

Off all the Arabs, Sharansky said, the Palestinians are the closest to democracy. The problem is that until now the West has chosen to prop up a dictator Arafat.

When reminded that the polls show the Palestinians are overwhelmingly still supportive of Arafat, Sharansky asked, "What does it mean that the Palestinians love only Arafat, the Russians when asked loved only Stalin. Did they have a choice. Has anybody made sure that the Palestinians have a choice?"

Sharansky said that Israel needs to free itself of the illusion that the Palestinians chose Arafat's dictatorship. The West chose that, he said, by not providing another option.

In Sharansky's mind, Bush's speech should now be followed up by the establishment of a coordinating body headed by the US together with those Arab states who recognize Israel for creating a Palestinian administrative authority (PAA) that would serve as a transitional government to shepherd in a process of democratization.

According to Sharansky, this body would be responsible for administrating the day-to-day lives of the Palestinians, in matters such as economy, police and law enforcement, education, housing, religion, culture, and other areas. In his letter to Sharon, in which he spelled out this program, Sharansky said this PAA should operate for a three-year transition period the amount of time Bush spelled out until the establishment of a provisional Palestinian state, if the Palestinians meet certain stringent conditions.

Sharansky envisions "free and open" elections held at the end of this period.

Asked if he doesn't think Arafat would win these elections, Sharansky said, "If elections were held today he would win, like Stalin won. That is why you need real democracy.

"Democracy is not just elections, it is where people are not afraid to speak their mind because it might end them up in jail, it is where people have a feeling of security to chose between a normal lie and an abnormal one. When faced with this choice, I believe the vast majority would choose peace and not war."

[SJackson]

A Japan style occupation could work, though is will take longer. Problem is, who occupies?

The UN already "occupies" the refugee camps and incorporated terror factories with EU help, that won't work.

I don't want US troops on the ground there at all, much less in force for a decade.

The IDF could do it. But I'm not sure it's not better to try this plan, when it fails annex half or so of the West Bank and let them have the rest.

Of course, if we actually get around to dealing with Iraq and/or Iran, the whole dynamic will change.