Sunday, January 13, 2008

Putting Palestinian Reality on Hold

The absurdity of his statement did not prevent Canada's foreign affairs minister, Maxie Bernier, from stressing the need for democratic reform in dangling a $300-million carrot in front of the nose of unelected Palestinian underboss, Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

If Bernier has such a case of the hots for democracy, he might better address his remarks to the head of Hamas, the party the Palestinian people democratically chose to lead them instead of Fatah.

But the democratic will of the Palestinian people be damned when the profoundly corrupt Fatah leadership seems about to capitulate to terms of settlement dictated by Washington, terms that will never bring peace to Israeli or Palestinian.

By just what legitimate authority can Fatah, which lost a democratic election to Hamas, claim to represent the Palestinian people is surely an issue we ought to sort out before handing a third of a billion dollars to a guy like Abbas. Then again, we're living in a right-wing fantasyland where reality is just an inconvenience.

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