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Arafat-Style Democracy

Yasser Arafat has promised often during his long campaign to achieve an independent Palestine that the state he seeks would be democratic and thus refreshingly distinct from the oppressive authoritarianism that is the norm in most of the Arab world. But the Palestinian Authority over which he presides as a stop on the road to statehood has thus far shown little respect for democratic values and practices. Thin-skinned and excessively image-conscious, Arafat has not hesitated to use the heavy hand of police power to coerce and silence his critics. The latest to fall afoul of Arafat is prominent Palestinian journalist--and American citizen--Daoud Kuttab, who was detained by Arafat’s police in Ramallah this week without being charged.

The fiercely independent-minded Kuttab, who has also tangled with Israeli authorities, is apparently being harassed over a fundamental issue: the right of Palestinians to be informed of what their leaders are up to.

Kuttab heads the modern media center at Al-Quds University, which among other things produces broadcasts of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The elected 88-member council has from its inception declined to play the role of Arafat’s lap dog. It has become increasingly critical of the Palestinian Authority for alleged corruption and misuse of official funds, habits for which Arafat and his cronies have long been notorious. Recently some sessions of the council broadcast by the media center have been electronically jammed, a crude form of censorship. Kuttab told Western reporters this week that he witnessed the official Palestinian Broadcast Authority jam the programs. Arafat clearly did not want Palestinians to hear the accusations raised against him. He could not shut down the freely elected council, but he could try to halt dissemination of its debates.

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The Kuttab case is only the latest entry in a lengthening catalog of abuses of power since the Palestinian Authority came into being in 1994. Among the most flagrant violations are the killings of more than a dozen Palestinians, beaten and otherwise tortured in Arafat’s jails. If the dream of a democratic Palestine is to become a reality, it will not be because of the fearful intolerance by Arafat and the people around him but because of the courage and dedication of people like Daoud Kuttab.

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