As expected,  Ariel Sharon was reelected Prime Minster of Israel. The fact that Israel has  elections seems to give credence to the oft-repeated claim of Israel being the "only democracy in the Middle East". In reality,  fully half of the people living under Israeli rule have limited rights of citizenship (the Arab citizens of Israel, who, though they have the right to vote and run for office but  are discriminated against in just about every realm of public life, sometimes even by law) or no rights of citizenship (the people living under occupation as well as the foreign workers who have been brought in by the hundreds of thousands in recent years to replace the Palestinians in the cheap labor market). 
      However, it is fair to say that Israel has democratic structures that are much more developed than its Middle Eastern neighbors (thanks in no small measure to Western support for totalitarian regimes and the lingering effects of the colonial era). But access to those structures is limited for many and barred for many others. Yet, Israel must confront  the fundamental and inescapable truth:  It is impossible to be both occupiers and democrats; there is no such thing as enlightened exploiters and racists. Those are irreconcilable contradictions and  flagrant  oxymorons. Israel's claims about its democratic character are empty boasts.
Just as there is no such thing as a partial pregnancy, there is no such thing as a partial democracy, either. 

      The obstacles to Israeli democracy do not end with the occupation, but they do begin there, and it is the occupation that is the biggest obstacle. Once the occupation ends, Israel can begin to build a true democracy, with rights for all who live under the rule of its law and government. Until then,  Ariel Sharon will not bring peace and security to his people: neither to the minority who voted for him nor the majority who couldn't.

Respectfully,

 

 

Aref Assaf,