Democracy? Not in our schools

Hamas' victory teaches just how simplistic the view that all you need to ensure democracy and human rights are free elections.

One-time elections, even if they are free from threats or coercion, do not ensure democracy. They do not even ensure the process will be repeated, or that the folks who won this election will agree to put their power on the line by standing for re-election.

Ensuring democracy requires several conditions, including education towards democratic values that will ensure most people vote according to the best of their knowledge and beliefs, rather than at the command of some religious or sectoral leader.

In addition, those in power must understand that they have been elected for a limited period of time, at the end of which there will be new elections that could remove them from power.

Fragile democracy

Most human societies are not democratic. This is not surprising, in light of the fragility of the democratic system.

Western democracy was born only after long years of struggle and after intellectuals and researchers had been explaining the value and meaning of democracy for generations.

This was accompanied by a separation from religion and the weakening of the church's involvement in power, and occasionally a complete break between the two.

These processes were based on n the French and American revolutions; since then, democracy has been part and parcel of Western society.

Not in the Middle East

The Middle East and most of the third world has not had the same educational process, have had no exposure to the vision of a democratic country and are not overly-conscious of its benefits.

The result is that most of these countries are not democracies, and even if they do hold the odd democratic proceeding, it is usually a one-off event and will soon be placed by a dictatorship.

Jewish Hamas?

Another phenomenon is the strengthening of Islam in the Arab world, as well as Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Judaism in Israel. Theocratic rule does not jive with democratic principles.

Both Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Judaism and fundamentalist Islam feel religious law should become the law of the land. These laws remain in the hands of religious scholars, and they, alone, are permitted to interpret them.

Despite this, representative democracy is based on the fact that laws are made by the people's representatives in the framework of a parliament, and they will change with the times and the needs and beliefs of the voting public.

It is obvious that theocracy will never reconcile itself to the parliament's laws that don't match Godly laws as they are understood by the religious leaders.

Knesset laws, God's will

Therefore, it is no surprise that the violent and illegal opposition to the Gush Katif pullout, and the expected opposition to future pullouts, are from people who believe that such moves are a violation of God's will, that God's will trumps Knesset-made laws that were approved democratically, and decisions of the Israeli government.

It's not too hard to guess which high schools infused their students with these beliefs, and who funds these schools. It is also no wonder that the first thing Hamas announced upon winning the Palestinian elections related to education.

Gender-segregated education is a joint platform of Hamas and many religious groups in Israel.

The existence of a fragile regime, called democracy, depends of values education, passed from one generation to the next. Hamas' victory shows that if there was ever any democracy in Palestinian society, it was still born.

Israeli democracy, on the other hand, was born strong and healthy. But there are dark clouds on the horizon.