----- Original Message -----
From: Adam C. Lipscomb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2001 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: Free the Netherlands!
> Ibrahim wrote:
> > On Tue, 29 May 2001, Andrew Crystall wrote:
> >
> > > Only one democracy has even declared war on another
> > > Democracy. Israel.
>
> > Israel a democracy? Thats stretching the commonly accepted Western
> > definition a wee bit.
>
> On what do you base that conclusion? Just wondering, as I'm a Westerner,
> and Israel's government has always been accepted as "democratic"
> (acknowledging that it's really more of a republic then a pure democracy,
> like all other "democracies") in the sources I'm familiar with.
>
I think the fact that voting privileges are somewhat race based. I don't
think that's enough to declare it not a democracy, because the Arabs who
live in Israel can vote. Where the asymmetry comes in is the fact that
Jewish settlers in the West Bank can vote, but Palestinians cannot. So, it
is a democratic country semi-permanently occupying another country. It will
settle that country, but it cannot annex it while staying a democracy.
Dan M.
