On Palestine

Have you read the official constitution issued by the Palestinian Authority? This was during Yasir Arafat’s leadership, and, to the best of my knowledge, it is still in force, and Mr. Abbas has pledged to honor and protect this constitution.

I cannot remember where I came upon the English version of this document, however, what I remember was being quite shocked that it nowhere purported to be a document by or for Muslims. This constitution was completely secular in the governance it promoted and the governmental structure it mandated.

Knowing this, we can see why the western world (USA and Israel in particular) cannot accept the democratically-elected Hamas Muslim rule in Gaza. And we can understand the desire of Israel, without protest from the USA, to destroy Hamas completely, even if it means destroying Gaza. Westerners can always rebuild destroyed territories, as they have proven time and again, and at no small financial gain to themselves.

The West also has a history of forbidding democracy if elections result in clear Muslim rule. Algeria and Somalia are cases in point. The West intervened in both cases, when confronted by the will-of-the-people to be ruled by Muslims under Islamic law. Some Muslim intellectuals try to argue that Huntington’s “culture clash” thesis is wrong. So what do we call Muslim challenge to western hegemony everywhere you look? Well, almost everywhere.

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