 |
Tal Ben-Shahar is a Graduate Fellow at Harvard University's Center for Ethics,
and the author of .
|
|
|
|
By Tal Ben-Shahar
July 14, 2002
In his recent policy speech on the Middle East, United States President George W. Bush explicitly called for a "new and different Palestinian leadership." Following Bush's speech, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat asserted that "The Palestinian people have chosen President Arafat as their leader, and the world and President Bush must respect the democratic choice of the Palestinian people." Despite Erekat's demand, and despite similar pleas from the leaders of France and Germany, the rest of the world has no obligation to respect the democratic choice of the Palestinians. Democracy is illegitimate if exploited for the purpose of undermining liberty.
Hitler, though elected democratically, had no moral right to eliminate freedoms, neither of the Germans nor of other people. Following Japan's surrender in World War II, the U.S. had every right to demand that Emperor Hirohito be replaced, even though he had the support of the Japanese majority.
Yasser Arafat has not only compromised the liberty of Israelis, but even the Palestinians living under him have less freedom today than they had when the contested territories were under Israeli rule. No majority, regardless of its size, has the right to empower a leader to threaten another group of people, or to deny his own people of their basic freedoms.
Democracy is not the panacea to the conflict in the Middle East. Electoral reforms in the contested territories, in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, or Iran, will not lead the world toward the coveted peace. The absence of democracy in Muslim nations is not the source of the problem but rather a symptom of much deeper problems: intolerance, a predisposition toward violence, and a fundamental disrespect for human life. Rather than upholding life and liberty - the two central values of Western culture - the Muslim world promotes death and oppression.
The majority of Palestinians support Arafat, a corrupt leader and a confirmed terrorist, and the majority endorse suicide murders. A Gallup poll found that twenty-four percent of Pakistanis considered the attack on America "consistent with Islamic law." In an online survey in Indonesia, half the respondents said Osama bin Laden was a "justice fighter." Middle East expert Daniel Pipes estimates that more than half of the Islamic world supports bin Laden. Militant Islam that calls for a Jihad against the West is not a fringe phenomenon.
Muslims are not born intolerant, violent, and anti-West, but, given the consistent message that they hear on the media, in the mosques, and in heir schools, they quickly assimilate these values. From a young age, Muslims are taught to hate Jews, to despise everything that the United States, the Great Satan, stands for - and to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of destroying the infidels.
What the Muslim world needs is not democracy, at least not yet, but a group of leaders - politicians and intellectuals - who will do nothing less than transform the culture. Simply replacing the current leadership is not enough - when Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, or any of the other despots in the region die, the problem will not automatically die with them - which is why President Bush did not merely call for a new leadership, but also for a different one.
The new leaders of the Muslim world, in Palestine and elsewhere, must impart the values of life and liberty. The U.S., with the support of other Western countries, must insist that such leaders emerge, and then support them in whatever way necessary - military and diplomatic. Any other course of action will allow the culture of death and oppression to continue spreading, to become even more dangerous as it acquires weapons of mass destruction.
Very few individuals possess the capacity to take on the formidable task of transforming the Muslim world. Even fewer are brave enough to challenge an entire culture that does not tolerate dissent. The late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat paid with his life for challenging the groups that opposed change to the status quo. Yet, there can be no end to the conflict in the Middle East until more courageous leaders rise and create a new culture that promotes life and liberty rather than death and oppression. Then, and only then, will the Muslim world be ready for democracy.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
