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I was interested in asking Sharansky about his views on human rights. In his book, Sari Nusseibeh accuses Sharansky of being inconsistent in his support for human rights because he built settlements as housing minister in the Israeli government. I asked Sharansky how he reconciled Israel's settlement policy with the country's commitment to human rights—and his own.
I found his answer quite interesting. First, he said, we must look at the peace process as a whole. It was a mistake, he argued, for the world to link the concept of a Palestinian state with principles of human rights. The right to self-determination is not inherent: you have to stake a claim to it by organizing your own institutions. As it happened, the world, not the Palestinians, created the Palestinian Authority.
Second, he said, settlements are not an obstacle to Palestinian statehood, nor are they a violation of human rights. No settlement—with the exception of Hebron, he allowed—interferes directly in the life of any Palestinian community. Settlements are also a major source of jobs and investment in the Palestinian territories. Terror, and not settlement, has created the need for checkpoints and roadblocks.
I persisted. What about the obstacle that Israeli settlements pose to Palestinian-initiated economic development? and reports that settlements are infringing on Palestinian private property? Sharansky answered that as minister, he had found that Palestinian leaders were uninterested in investment projects unless they could use them to line their pockets, claim strategic territory and circumvent agreements.
On the issue of property rights, he noted that Israeli courts had been extremely diligent in investigating Palestinian claims, as well as quite lenient, lowering the standard of proof substantially to favor claimants. In some cases, he said, the courts had ordered the government to pay compensation to Palestinian property owners. Calls for the total pullout of all settlers, he said, were not based on human rights concerns but on the implicitly antisemitic idea that Jews cannot live in the area.
Sharansky on the Settlements
Article Source: Joel Pollack- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
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And the Iraq case—supposedly the test of Bush's neo-Wilsonian idealism—is not about whether Iraqis wish to live in freedom (they do), but about whether they want to live together (they may not).
This latter statement is also true of a number of hotspots across the area: Shiite Vs Sunni, Arab muslim vs Black muslim in Sudan, Hamastein vs Fatahstein, Turk muslim vs Kurdish muslim, Taliban vs Moderate in Afghanistan, Al Queda vs Saudi Royal etc.
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#1 - Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:07 AM EDTThe right to self-determination is not inherent: you have to stake a claim to it by organizing your own institutions.
Exactly.
This is also the Bush administrations error in the region; you can't give democracy as some sort of gift; it has to be claimed.
- 1 vote
#2 - Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:03 PM EDTI disagree quite strongly on that. The right to self-determination is inherent. But it must be understood that solutions must be sought consistent with the demands of a people. Otherwise, that's not self-determination, it's an imposed order.
In the case of the Palestinians, I don't think anyone can argue that their national will for an independent state is less than it might be. I don't think, either, that anyone can argue that their desire for democracy is less than it might be. (Though it is ironic that much of the desire for democracy does come from watching Israeli politics, and many of the most ardent supporters of democracy spent time in Israeli prisons watching the Israeli equivalent of C-SPAN.) In the case of Iraq, there is some reason to imagine less than full support for democracy. Although the majority do desire it, the minority opposed is significant and willful. Few seem to have a clear idea of what Iraqi democracy ought to look like.
I see what you are saying. Maybe what i was trying to express is that self-determination demands action, and its success depends on whether responsible actions are taken.
When I talk about self-determination, people sometimes ask me about Native Americans, another group for whom the issue is an important matter. My response often boils down to, "Have you asked them what they'd like?"
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