Annapolis - Leaving Democracy at the Door

President Bush in a speech given on March 8, 2005 had this to say about freedom and democracy in the world:

"It should be clear that the advance of democracy leads to peace because governments that respect the rights of their people also respect the rights of their neighbors ... it should be clear the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance kindled in free societies."

I guess he no longer feels that way, because attending Condi Rice's little party in Annapolis is what Boris Badenov of Rocky fame, formerly described as the Villains Thieves and Scoundrels Union:

Annapolis - Leaving Democracy at the Door

U.S. Applauds Arab League Attendance at Annapolis

November 26, 2007 | Eli E. Hertz

The Arab League, which has systematically opposed and blocked peace efforts for 60 years and is to this moment in a declared state-of-war with Israel, and more recently, proudly and publicly supported the deeds of suicide bombers, is now deemed by the United States Administration to have something significant to contribute regarding the peace with Israel.

One is struck by the fact that most of the 21 Arab states that will be represented by the Arab League in Annapolis are rated and categorized as some of the worst offenders of human rights for which:

"Political rights are absent or virtually nonexistent as a result of the extremely oppressive nature of the regime or severe oppression in combination with civil war. States and territories in this group may also be marked by extreme violence or warlord rule that dominates political power in the absence of an authoritative, functioning central government."1

President Bush in a speech given on March 8, 2005 had this to say about freedom and democracy in the world:

"It should be clear that the advance of democracy leads to peace because governments that respect the rights of their people also respect the rights of their neighbors ... it should be clear the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance kindled in free societies."2 (emphasis added)

In Annapolis, President Bush is ready to surrender his Freedom and Democracy Principle - endangering the very survival of the Jewish state and advancing Palestinian society's belief that violence pays-off.

Professor, Judge Schwebel, the former President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) explains:

"... no legal right shall spring from a wrong, and the Charter principle that the Members of the United Nations shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State."3

Simply stated: Arab illegal aggression against the territorial integrity and political independence of Israel, can not and should not be rewarded.

The outcome of consistent Arab aggression was best described by Schwebel:

"As between Israel, acting defensively in 1948 and 1967, on the one hand, and her Arab neighbours, acting aggressively in 1948 and 1967, on the other, Israel has better title in the territory of what was Palestine, including the whole of Jerusalem."4 (emphasis added)

It is most important for the people of Israel and Jews everywhere not to forget the late Israeli diplomat Abba Eban that in an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel, described Israel's pre-Six-Day War borders as "Auschwitz" lines.

Eban, a lifetime dove, vowed:

"We have openly said that the map will never again be the same as on June 4, 1967. For us, this is a matter of security and of principles. The June map is for us equivalent to insecurity and danger. I do not exaggerate when I say that it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz. We shudder when we think of what would have awaited us in the circumstances of June, 1967, if we had been defeated; with Syrians on the mountain and we in the valley, with the Jordanian army in sight of the sea, with the Egyptians who hold our throat in their hands in Gaza. This is a situation which will never be repeated in history."5

Is devastating Israel cheaper than democratizing the members of the Arab League?

1. Freedom House, an NGO founded nearly sixty years ago by Eleanor Roosevelt, monitors the degree of freedom accorded citizens of various countries according to various parameters, and classifies countries accordingly. For the full report see: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=1.

2. Jim VandeHei, Washington Post, Wednesday, March 9, 2005.

3. Professor, Judge Schwebel. What Weight to Conquest? in "Justice in International Law", Cambridge University Press, 1994. Opinions quoted in this critiques are not derived from his position as a judge of the ICJ.

4. Ibid.

5. Abba Eban: "The June 1967 map represented Israel's 'Auschwitz' borders