Bush's true thought's on world democracy.

Well the Bush administration along with Israel (surprise surprise we're following Israel's lead) is refusing to speak or have any relations with the newly elected Palestine.

Are they refusing to do so because the government has attacked Israel, or maybe because they believe that the elections were rigged in some way.

No that would be to sensible. They are doing so because as the Israeli government put it:

"The state of Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian administration if even part of it is an armed terrorist organization calling for the destruction of the state of Israel."

Now if the Hamas run government were truly calling for the destruction of Israel I could understand this to a point. But there are two things to keep in mind.

First of all this government was just elected in a free election by the people of Palestine, so obviously their views agree at least to a large point with the people. Now I can understand if this does not matter to Israel because they have been in a hostile situation with Palestine for some time and never claimed to be for spreading democracy. The U.S. on the other hand, especially the Bush admin., is supposedly all for spreading democracy and will work with any Democratic government attempting to grow. So what, will we only work with those that we agree with and not those that have ideals that are not right in line with ours. Or are we just automatically against any country that does not agree with Israel. I mean in a way there statements about Israel occupying Palestinian territory are true historically, it was not until after WW2 that they were granted the state of Israel and even then it was not the will of the people of the area but instead that of the European and U.S. governments. I mean this does not grant us the right to call them "armed terrorist" (which we did through association with Israel.) , they are an elected government. Are we going to start calling the French government "armed terrorist" when we don't agree with them. Now before you say that they are labeled that because of their attacks on Israelis including women and children should we also call the Israeli government a terrorist group, they to have attacked Palestinian women and children. I remember reading about one incident in which a Palestinian child through a rock at a soldier and so the soldier shot the kid in the head with an assault rifle. I do not justify the acts committed by Hamas, but they are no worse than those committed by Israel.

The second point is this. Israel and the U.S. claim to want peace, as Bush stated,:

"If your platform is the destruction of Israel, it means you're not a partner in peace, and we're interested in peace."

A statement that has been reverberated throughout the world and which I agree with, possibly one of the the only things that came out of Bush's mouth that was intelligent, he ought to keep this writer.

Now if the Hamas run Palestinian governments position was that they wanted to simply "destroy Israel" then I would understand not wanting to talk with them because that would be a declaration of war. But they have not said that. What they have said is that they wish to have their land back. Now obviously that is not possible and so they need to reach another agreement, but how can this happen without talking to them. Furthermore they have expressed a strong desire to continue with the peace process, it is only Israel and the U.S. who are holding back. The new government came out and stated openly today that this is what they wished saying:

"Don't be afraid"

and a more specific message by Abbas, whom the Islamic group reached out to be a partner in the new government,

Abbas said he remained committed to peace talks and suggested they be conducted through the Palestine Liberation Organization an umbrella group of Palestinian organizations that he also heads, instead of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. "I am committed to implementing the program on which you elected me a year ago," he said in a televised speech. "It is a program based on negotiations and peaceful settlement with Israel."

So one must wonder what is the reason that the U.S and Israel are unwilling to speak with them. They make it clear that they wish to continue peace talks, so why not do it. Would we prefer to end the cease fire and let the war continue? I hope not. The worst that can come out of continuing the talks with the new government is a return to bloodshed, and it would seem that that would be the only possible outcome of ending the talks so we obviously have nothing to lose.