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Palestine's Democratic Deficit
(New York Times) David Keyes - Last week, Palestinian activist Anas Awwad, 26, was sentenced in absentia by a West Bank court to one year in prison for "extending his tongue" against PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook. From the top down, a culture of repression reigns in the Palestinian Authority. Abbas' term ended four years ago, but he has clung to power as an unelected autocrat for nearly half a decade. A good indicator of how committed a government is to upholding peace with its neighbors is its commitment to protecting the human rights of its own citizens. Nations that disregard the freedoms of their own people are not likely to care much about maintaining peace with their historic enemies. Palestinian human rights, in other words, are key to the peace process. Rather than continuing to give Abbas a free pass, the West should roundly criticize crackdowns on dissidents and stand firmly with Palestinian democrats. A positive first step would be linking Western economic aid to the PA's respect for free speech. The writer is executive director of Advancing Human Rights.