Monday, February 07, 2011

Israel and the Arab World, Can Both Have Democracy?

Even as Arab dissidents in North Africa and the Middle East take to the streets in quest for democratic freedoms and liberation from autocratic tyranny, democracy is taking a pummeling in Israel.

It's not just Palestinians who are under the boot of the far right Israeli regime.  It's Israeli Arabs and the Israeli left.  Israeli newspapers like Haaretz have been chronicling this erosion of democratic freedoms for some time.  Israeli human rights groups have been speaking out against what's happening although few seem to be listening.

Now the question is being asked whether Israeli democracy can survive Arab democracy.   A voice of the Israeli left, Tel Aviv based journalist Mya Guarniari, asks whether Israel is descending into outright fascism.  Perhaps it boils down to the inherent incompatibility of theocracy with democracy.

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