Why does Palestine deserves full democracy and equal rights ? What about others ?
I am not talking about Palestinian freedom (i.e. land/ territorial / sovereignty). I just wanted to focus on full democracy and equal rights (voting, freedom press, freedom of expression, freedom to protest etc…)
The fact of the matter is many part of the world including in the Middle East, there are no full democracy and equal rights.
How does it make sense that an Egyptian advocating for Palestinians to have full democracy and equal rights ? When Egyptians themselves do not have these rights. There was a coup, Egypt is currently under military dictatorship. It’s the same across the entire Middle East region, from Saudi, Qatar, to Iran, etc… none of them have full democracy and equal rights. None of them are shining beacon for “Liberal Democratic values” which is what many in the Western Left (Pro-Palestine) are suggesting.
Why does Palestine deserves full democracy and equal rights ? Does Iran, Egypt, Saudi, Qatar, etc… not deserve democracy and equal rights too ? One might argue… democracy and equal rights are universal values, everyone should have them. But is that really true ? The world order is changing, many in the Global South including the Middle East may not subscribe to the democracy and equal rights of the western world and would certainly not want western liberal values to be forced upon them. The last time Egypt had democratic elections, they voted in Muslim Botherhood. The last time Gaza had elections, they voted in Hamas.
Could it be that full democracy and equal rights were not meant to be for the Middle East ? Singapore is not fully democratic, doesnt seem like its too bad a place to be. Dubai, Oman, Kuwait, etc… doesnt seem too bad, even without full democracy and equal rights. Palestine is not California or New York, why should one think that imposing a western liberal values on people half way around the world will work ?