January 02, 2005
MIRABILE DICTU
EU election observers find Palestinians 'thirsty' for democracy (Jerusalem Post, January 2nd, 2005)
The head of a European Union delegation of observers of the PA chairmanship election said Friday that voter registration ahead of the January 9 vote shows that Palestinians are eager for democracy.Former French prime minister Michel Rocard leads an EU task force of more than 260 observers, who will be joined by others from the United States and Japan. Palestinians will choose a successor for the late PA chairman Yasser Arafat.
"There is in Palestine an astonishing demand for democracy," he said in an interview with The Associated Press, citing as evidence the high rate of voter registration. "They came in quite fantastic numbers," he said.
Rocard also pointed to a round of local authority elections last week in 26 communities, where 150,000 voters chose among more than 800 candidates.
"The turnout was considerable," he said. "Greater than in many old and respectable democracies such as Germany, Belgium, Britain or France."
Obviously M. Rocard hasn’t read those parts of the Koran that prove Islam and freedom are incompatible.
"It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate."
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 2, 2005 07:37 AMRocard is a French Socialist, an admirer of George McGovern, who has advocated the destruction of the State of Israel in recent years. Using him as a source of anything is a fool's errand.
Posted by: Bart at January 2, 2005 07:49 AM"EU election observers find Palestinians 'thirsty' for democracy"
Misquoted - "EU election observers find Palestinians 'thirsty' for democracide (in Israel)."
Posted by: Oswald Booth Czolgosz at January 2, 2005 01:46 PMBart:
But if he is all that, does not his admission against self-interest bolster his credibility?
Posted by: Peter B at January 2, 2005 05:19 PMRocard, who when he ran for President in 1965 against DeGaulle received a rousing 5% of the vote, is regarded over there as a 'self-hating Frenchman' to the extent there is such a thing in the nation that gave us chauvinism.
He is far more an American left-type than a French figure, although he certainly has all the credentials of elite status, ENA etc. Most French Socialists of his day were big spending Cold Warriors like Mitterand and Hernu, perfectly content to blow up Greenpeace vessels if they got in the way of national security.
Rocard was an exception, the son of a wealthy Protestant stockbroker family, who opposed Big Labor and a tough line against the Soviets at the time, kind of like that spawn of Satan, Gary Hart. Like McGovern, his opinions are now a part of party orthodoxy as it sinks into the swamp of history.
Posted by: Bart at January 3, 2005 06:53 AM