It is interesting reading what readers comment. An anonymous writer mentions how Israel is in the same position as Saddam's Iraq. It has done exactly what he has done. To some extent this is true. Forget the ethnic democracy that it presents to the whole world and look behind the thick smoke screen, you will find the concentration camps of Ansar- Three camps in the middle of the Negev desert that we established during the first intifada to detain Palestinians.
In Palestine, the older generation is never asked if he has been detained by Israel, they are always asked, when and where and for how long. and this is not the extent of Israeli policy. Do you remember the Iron Fist policy? do you remember seeing on TV five soldiers taking a 15 year old up to the mountain and breaking his bones with the back of their guns and rocks? This is not all. Israel has practiced graver violations of human rights than any other country. If you think Aung San Sui Ki is a symbol of the tyranny of the Burmese junta, Think about three million people who are constantly put under house arrests, through collective curfews.
Mohammed, a friend of mine, is married to a lady from Jerusalem. He has a green ID which, according to Israel's colour coding, does not entitle him to live with his wife. Since the wall was completed around Jerusalem he had to make a choice between his wife and children and his parents. for the past 6 months he would only have one route home-work(few meters away)-home. And this is even a risk.
The Anonymous commentator mentions that US has vetoed resolutions against Israel 65 times. as a matter of fact, Aljazeera puts the number at 82. And make a wild guess on which was the second most protected country by US vetoes? Yes, none but old apartheid South Africa. Makes sense, doesn't it. And this is the Beacon of Western Democracy? is this "our way of life" that GW Bush want to protect?