Senior Al Hayat columnist praises Israeli democracy

Aaron Lerner Date: 15 August 2004

Yoav Stern reports in today's Hebrew edition of Haaretz today that London
based Al Hayat's senior commentator and columnist, Jihad al Hazen, praised
Israeli democracy in a column published Tuesday.

"There is in Israel an amount of democracy that cannot be found in any Arab
state. We will continue to be hopeless towards it and unable to save
ourselves until we establish true democracy in the Arab sates that includes
the rule of law."

The column, that is headlined "Ahmed Tibi", was published after the Israeli
daily Ma'ariv rated MK Tibi as one of the top ten MKs of the last Knesset
session specifically mentioning that he "fought for his People and the right
of the Arabs."

Al Hazen praised the fact that this was done despite the fact that Tibi
sharply criticized many, including the prime minister, minister of defense
and the chief of staff.

"Dr. Tibi couldn't have expressed such strong opposition to the government
if he were a member of an Arab parliament . . . I would like to see such a
member of parliament say such things against the prime minister or president
and continue living after that and being able to call a friend overseas and
tell him what he did," wrote al Hazen.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il