Palestine a democracy?

It is called “use of force”, where individuals are “neutralised”, where retribution comes with “an iron fist”, and where operations are enacted with “special measures”. These are just a few of the euphemisms used by some Israeli leaders speaking of violence against Palestinians.

And the US and Australia turn a blind-eye to violence, that is not properly acknowledged as such, by a state who is a loyal democratic ally.

This is why if Hamas does pursue a US-propelled version of the Road Map they could still suffer gross inequality under a semblance of being a “democracy”. It is frightening to think all the peace negotiations could be wasted if Palestine becomes independent but they then get a raw deal in trade, resource or border management because they were the “terrorists”.

This semantic double-standard reflects both the oppression that is vital to Zionism and the power the US can’t afford to lose in Palestine.

Keeping this in mind, it is not a shock to hear Director of the Israeli Security Service, Yuval Diskin, remark that Hamas "refers in its demands to the 1967 borders, but in its conventions its real goal is the 1948 borders, and even that isn't the end".

To this conservative and hard-line position, terrorism is bad violence. The Israeli response so far to Palestinians - assassinations, forced removal of Palestinians from their homes, bulldozing, shooting, torture, detainment and coercion through lawful and unlawful measures - is good violence which really doesn’t need to be called “violence”. They are merely means necessary to maintain Israeli independence.

Let us not forget the other side of this semantic division. Perhaps that every Palestinian family has had at least one member killed, expelled, or jailed, indicates that peace is not an easy idea to trust. And in the last 15 years of trying to establish stability in the region, the Clinton Administration knew intimately how complicated it is to put trust in front of family, country and religious honour.

If the Road Map peace process is to truly take a foothold, then the Israeli violence must be abolished as well as the violence conducted by Palestinian suicide bombers. Recognition is deserved of any people who wish to seek independence through democratic means.

Regardless of whether Hamas employs US-supported means or not to implement democracy in Palestine, Israel needs to be reminded as much as Hamas about not using violence for political gains.