Daniel Lubetzky

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

-Herbert Clark HOOVER
31st President of the United States (1874-1964)

This, indeed, is one of the paramount challenges faced by democratic systems.  Democracy cannot exist without freedom of expression.  And yet how can it safeguard from demagogic populists who once in power may seek to dismantle democratic systems? Nowadays it is fashionable to criticize democratization efforts in the Middle East – after all, look at what Hamas is doing in Gaza, and what is going on in Lebanon with Hezbollah, and the rise of salafis and fatalists wherever any openness is shown. 

There are three keys to a successful democratic system:

• Security By A State Accountable to the People – so people can act on their beliefs without intimidation or coercion, and so militias cannot enforce their will and bully others – think of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine;
• Freedom of Expression and Thought – so all arguments can be truly exposed to scrutiny and thought
• Repeat Election Cycles – so if people make mistakes as they are apt to do, they can undo those who governed badly in the next election cycle – as they did to Hamas the sole time that the people saw them govern and had a chance to vote again; this is the big achilles heel to democracy in the Middle East, as Bernard Lewis commented that fundamentalists had used democracy as "one man, one vote, one time" – and once in power done away with future free elections; this is the problem in Iran, but also in places like Chavez’s Venezuela, and of course Gaza and Lebanon.

• and to be fair in the analysis, a variation of the problem also exists in the West Bank; on one side those in control of the PA

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Some comments from a conversation I had today – over the phone – with a few colleagues in Gaza:

People curse the day they elected Hamas into power.  If elections were held today, they would be routed out.

It’s taking me an hour to connect on the internet.  I am sure they are monitoring everything we do online, every email we send, and probably this phone conversation.  On the streets they stop every car and rough people up for no reason.  It is becoming the Taliban.

Hamas promised that gas would go down – 20 shekel per canister.  But they are selling at 100 shekel per canister, and even at that price you cannot find any.

Hamas cannot change. They are driven by their ideology, and the most ideological extremists are now in control.  They have shown that they don’t care about the welfare of the Palestinian people, but about imposing their customs and their force upon the population.  They have been exposed.  People are fed up.  They won’t stand it much longer.

I am not sure how much of the above is wishful thinking vs. solid analysis, but it is clear people are suffering and disenchanted with the governance.

A Palestinian truck packed with 4 tons of explosives rammed into the Israel-Gaza border crossing and caused an explosion that was heard 12 miles deep into Gaza and out to Israel.  By miracle or defensive design, the bomber was the only immediate casualty as the crossing includes a long tunnel that acts as a buffer (see last picture of this post).

(this picture is of a getaway car that was destroyed by an IDF missile; no pictures were allowed to be taken at the checkpoint/crossing)

Given the war with Hamas in Gaza, I should not be surprised. 

But I was sobered up.  Darya Shaikh, our US Executive Director, and I were planning to be exactly where the explosion occurred the following day to meet Ezz and Mowaffaq, Palestinian Executive Directors of OneVoice Gaza.  They had not been able to get a permit to join our Board meeting, so we were going to meet at the Erez crossing to bring them up to date.  I have not gone back inside Gaza since the Hamas coup 11 months ago, but we had received permits to go through the Israeli checkpoint and meet at the end of the tunnel with Ezz and Mowaffaq.

This is the tunnel between Erez/Israel and the Gaza entrance, which was targeted by the Palestinian terrorist, apparently from Islamic Jihad, a 22 year old recruited into a suicide mission.

A lot of people are worried that 2008 will pass without an agreement among Israelis and Palestinians to define a Palestinian State – and presumably and hopefully start implementing such vision.  I, too, get worried about this, every day.  But listening to Tzipi Livni is quite reassuring.  She genuinely speaks with the OneVoice language and framework and today recommitted herself and the Israeli government to the timeframe and the goals set out in Annapolis.  Most important, she was asked tough but valid questions by Palestinians, and she treated them all with respect, without dismissing any of the human pain inherent in the questions.  I need to check with those who asked the questions, but my impression was that, even though they hate the Israeli government, they recognized a sincerity and goodwill on her part.

OneVoice recently launched one of its most ambitious and impactful projects: an essay contest asking every Palestinian and every Israeli child to dare visualize what 2018 would look like if we were to get our act together and achieve a framework 2-state-agreement in 2008.

You can see here a video of the Imagine 2018 essay contest being imparted at a school in Gaza.

While it’s an essay contest, in addition

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I was struck when I saw the initial cut of this film at how the Director, Adam Hootnick, was able to be objective and empathetic about every subject it covered, avoiding caricatured stereotypes, and helping us understand the perspective and motivations of those involved during the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.  I highly recommend it for any person who wants a better understanding about the Middle East.

UNSETTLED, a documentary feature film following the lives of a varied group of Israeli twenty-somethings during the withdrawal of Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip, will open for a limited engagement at NYC’s Pioneer Theater on Friday, May 9th, and LA’s Laemmle Music Hall 3 on Friday, May 16th. The film has won a number of festival awards including Jury Prizes at Slamdance (2007) and Sonoma Valley (2008). MTV’s Kurt Loder calls it "remarkable for the balance of its compassion, and for the range of youthful intelligence it reveals," and Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, former Pakistani representative to the UK, calls the film "very important for people in the Muslim world." Special dialogue events have been announced in both cities.

In New York, the 8pm May 13th screening will feature a post-film talkback with Director/Producer Adam Hootnick and Najla Said, actress and writer.

In Los Angeles, the May 18th screening will feature a post-film talkback with Professor Reza Aslan, author of No god but God.

To view a trailer and get ticket info, visit http://www.UNSETTLEDmovie.com

In a very serious development, Hamas has passed an edict that any gathering of more than 20 citizens anywhere in Gaza must receive official written pre-approval.  This includes any gathering, even if non-political. This will of course intimidate ordinary citizens and civic groups.

The media has not yet reported on this worrisome impingement on the freedom of Palestinian citizens.  Iran’s regime created a repressive totalitarian state by ferreting out any and all freedoms to congregate or express oneself.  If Hamas gets away with this measure, it will start imposing other measures until it destroys any possibility of a democratic process to reunite Gaza and the West Bank, let alone for Palestinians in Gaza to vote on a possible two-state-solution referendum.

Whatever your opinion on Jimmy Carter and his controversial trip to Syria to meet with President Assad and with Hamas leader Khaled Maashal, reading the report in Carter’s own words should be of value:

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You may be surprised to learn about some of what is happening in Gaza.  Read this letter:

Dear All,
Onevoice movement in the Gaza Strip expanded its campaign and organized its fifth Town Hall Meeting in the North of the Gaza Strip.
The Objective to introduce the Movement & gather support for the two states for two people notion.

The Participants about 60 activists from Jabalia refugee camp and Bait Lahia city.

Ezz started the meeting by introducing Onevoice Movement vision of Ending the Israeli military occupation which started in 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to the state of Israel. Ezz then moved to the issue of not allowing other states in the region in particular Iran & Syria to dictate for us Palestinians what to do. Ezz talked about the importance of delivering a message to our President Mahmood Abbas telling him to move forward with the direct negotiation with the state of Israel and to reach at least by the end of 2008 a comprehensive framework agreement with Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert.

Moafaq talked about the need to abandon violence as a mean to resist the Israeli military occupation, and adopting nonviolent methods to resist the occupation. he also introduced the notion of imagining 2018 if Palestine and Israel reached a peace agremment in 2008. Moafaq went on saying that Palestine will not be a poor state, but rather a rich state since Palestine will generate money from the religious tourism and from natural resources such as the gas mines off the shores of Gaza cost.

The participant told us that this is the first time that they actually hear something like this in Gaza. Usually what they hear is enticement against Israel and calls for revenge, the audience congratulated us on our brave decision to continue our public activities in Gaza and the majority asked us if they can become active members of the movement.

We explained to the participants that this meeting and other like it are only the beginning, and we are planing on holding a massive gathering sometimes this summer. Also, we told the participant to check our website and to add their comments to it..

  Our OneVoice team in Gaza continues to work with the local communities across Gaza – this last week in Gaza City – to build a human infrastructure of citizens committed to a two-state solution.