Can't Really Say I Agree

...with Curious M's response...whereas democracy often yields illiberal results in any democratic society, ie majorities strive to take away rights (I guess I should have capitalized Liberty) from minorities and so forth, I don't think it is a stretch to point towards Muslim countries particular illiberal attitudes towards say, freedom of expression (no depictions of Mohammed, the fatwa on Rushie, etc), rights of women (can't vote, can't drive, must wear humiliating clothing), rights of minorities (non-Muslims not being able to own property), and so forth. Trying to confuse the issue by pointing to other countries own wrestlings, is nothing more than a ploy to escape talking directly about the excessive problem in the Muslim world. That being said, I am a proponent of democracy (even with it's illiberal results) only because I think it is the least worst of options and at least will provide more transparency than the autocratic government we are used to seeing run countries in the Middle East.

And I'm not sure what to make of the rest of the post. Is Curious M arguing it is a good thing Hamas has been elected? Does Curious M believe Israel does not have a right to exist? Does Curious M believe in the "Palestinian right of return?"

And if the issue is growing up in a refugee camp, whose fault is that? Is it Israel (and the West's complicity), as every Arab newspaper and folktale would have you believe? Or does it have to do with Jordan, Egypt, and Syria, all of whom refused to accept Palestinians as citizens into their own countries - instead opting to keep a miserable refugee population to fight a proxy war against Israel for the past 50 years. Or does it have to do with the Palestinians themselves refusing the option of statehood and instead opting for infitada?

I wonder what it is about the Palestinian cause that has so many in the West criticizing Israel's aggression and occupation? Not a peep about the Kurds (a bigger stateless population) living in Northern Iraq, Iran, and Turkey for so long with limited rights. Nothing about the Shi'ite in Saddam's Iraq. Nothing about African Christians in Sudan. Nothing about the Christian population in Egypt that has all but left. Nothing about Tibet. Nothing about the Tutsis in Rwanda.

It's always about the Palestinians or the Native Americans or the African Americans in America. Why is that?

If you position is that Israel is an illegitimate country without a right to exist and therefore any opposition to it is justifiable, then take that position, but don't expect many people to agree with you and certainly don't expect that such a position is a peaceful one.