Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: WATCH: IDF Soldier Screams At Israeli Activists: 'You Are Worse Than The Arabs' [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)to be forced to accept democracy by outside coercion when that belief, clearly, is what your defense of the Occupation is based on? You clearly believe your army's presence on their soil can force the Palestinians to make different choices, despite the fact that so far, it never has.
And let me say this about Gaza...I wasn't the one who had the idea to JUST leave Gaza. That was Ariel Sharon's idea. He was the one who thought the Palestinians would be grateful for what was, by itself, a meaningless gesture. And Gaza was at that point Hamas' power base, so it was natural that they'd end up running it(even if they'd had elections, which they should have). It was just to be expected that Palestinians would regard Sharon's so-called "gesture" as an insult and that it would antagonize them.
I would never have said "just leave Gaza". I'd have had your troops pull back to the Green Line and take the settlers with them. That idea has nothing in common with what Sharon was talking about. At the same time, it's problematic to believe that anything would be much different if your troops were still in Gaza.
And you've already shown me every example you could possibly have of benevolent, allegedly liberalizing occupations(none of which have anything in common with the one you are helping enforce). So post what you're going to post...but it won't be anything new.
I believe in democracy. I just don't believe that "the West", especially the ruling classes of "the West" are entitled to act like they invented it and no one else can claim to believe in it on their own. Why is defending Western arrogance so important to you, anyway? Hitler was a product of Western arrogance.