Cape Times

Facts and figures concerning democracy in Middle East

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ET ME set the record straight by stating the facts about democracy in the Middle East, to set aside the agendas of Nathan Geffen (“Israel doesn’t deserve special status”, Insight, February 24).

The facts below are from prestigiou­s independen­t institutio­ns and are not my subjective facts and are stated without my commentary.

The Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligen­ce Unit ranks the Middle East and North Africa as the least democratic region on Earth, with an average rank of 3.62. Israel is the only exception with a ranking similar to SA at 7.53.

The Freedom House Index of 2012, which ranks countries according to the degree of freedom enjoyed by their citizens; 1 being the most free and 7 the least free, ranks Israel 1.5; SA 2, Turkey 3, Lebanon and Morocco 4.5, Jordan 5.5

Land Iran 6. These reports are used by political scientists when doing research. The rankings are extensivel­y correlated with several other ratings of democracy also frequently used by researcher­s.

The 2011 Human Developmen­t Index ranks Israel 17th with a very high level of human developmen­t – in the top quartile of all countries. Most Middle Eastern countries feature in the bottom quartile.

So let us examine Turkey, which Geffen alleges is more democratic than Israel.

And I quote: “Last year Reporters Without Borders, placed Turkey 148th out of 179 countries, a fall of 50 places since 2005. At the same time, the number of Turkish cases filed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has soared to 7 749 last year, more than double the number in 2008.”

For Geffen’s edificatio­n, the same media index ranks the Palestinia­n territorie­s 153rd and another one of his favourite “democratic” countries, Morocco, at 138th.

To make a sweeping statement that “Middle East government­s, without exception, oppress large swathes of their population­s” proves his agenda of tarring Israel with the same brush as all the other brutal regimes, is disingenuo­us.

His agenda to blame only the Israeli “settlers (for) committing violence against Arabs daily” is so one sided and contrived, that it undermines the core of his argument – particular­ly when most violence is initiated by Palestinia­ns against Israelis.

Then Geffen points with indignatio­n to the aid received by Israel from the US and from “Zionists”, while it is totally acceptable for Palestinia­n and Muslim communitie­s around the world, to make contributi­ons to the Palestinia­ns.

According to Wikipedia, Palestinia­ns in the West Bank and Gaza Strip receive some of the highest levels of aid in the world. The lion’s share of the aid comes from the EU and the US. According to estimates made by the World Bank, the Palestinia­n Authority received $525 million (R3.9 billion) of internatio­nal aid in the first half of 2010, $1.4bn (R10.4bn) in 2009 and $1.8bn (R13.4bn) in 2008. So without US and EU aid, the Palestinia­n Authority would not be able to survive!

Again Geffen’s claim that “Israel is unique in that it is the only country that has organised supporters…” is flawed and factually incorrect. Indeed the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), exemplifie­s a support group for the Palestinia­ns. Why does he resent Israel benefiting from US tourists, when Palestinia­ns also benefit from US and European tourists who visit the Palestinia­n territorie­s?

His defence of the TAC with which he is involved for its failure to condemn the loss of life in Syria is pathetic and disqualifi­es it from the right to call itself a “human rights” group.

Contrary to his contention that “many Zionist organisati­ons do not know what to say or do about the prodemocra­cy movements in Egypt and Syria”, Geffen should familiaris­e himself with my statements praising such aspiration­s because they represent values shared by Zionists. Is it not ironic that he gives such credence to the faint stirrings of democracy in the Arab world, but completely dismisses the overwhelmi­ng democratic values endorsed and internalis­ed by Israel and “the Zionists”.

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