Letter to the Editor: Phil Fine Arad

Letter to the editor,

Responding to “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: How to Move Forward” Blog dated Aug. 23.

Israelis, on more than one occasion, have offered Palestinians everything they wanted, only to be violently rebuffed. So why go out once again and try to shower them with love?

Moreover, Arabs across the Mideast have shown themselves congenitally incapable of nurturing and growing strong, vibrant democratic politics.

Indeed, Islam itself seems inherently unsuited to Western values, given that apart from Israel, there’s never been one strong democracy anywhere else in the Arab/Islamic world. Never. And Lebanon, the Arab state that might charitably be viewed as democratic, albeit democratic lite, now hovers on the brink of economic collapse.

Then, too, the recent attempt to implant democracy in Afghanistan has ended in complete and utter failure, despite 20 years of hard, unremitting work, not to mention billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid, most of it courtesy of the American taxpayer.

So, for G-d’s sake. Give it a rest. For at least 24 hours.

Phil Fine Arad, Israel, former editor of “Investor’s Digest of Canada” (Toronto)