U.S. officials shouldn't abandon Palestinians

First published: Sunday, February 12, 2006

Suggesting that the task of transitioning to a democracy is akin to "building a plane during takeoff," David Brooks wrote in a recent column about some "bad choices" becoming common in the Arab world as a democratic tide sweeps the globe.

For the Palestinian people -- voters and leaders -- this arduous process of transitioning to a democracy is exponentially more difficult, given their daily life living under the protracted Israeli military occupation.
Consequently, "we the people" (and our elected leaders and public servants) need to make "good choices" and find ways to effectively engage the Palestinian people and not to abandon Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians at this most critical juncture in their democratic journey.

They need us to be side-by-side with them for our involvement to be effective in building their democracy, which is part of the reason that I, as a native of the Capital Region and a U.S. citizen, continue to live and work in the West Bank at Bethlehem University.

Perhaps our elected officials also can find ways to effectively engage the government of the state of Israel so that they halt their continued expansion of the illegal settlements in the Palestinian West Bank.

BROTHER JACK CURRAN, Ph.D.

Albany
jcurran@bethlehem.edu