Bad Vilbel - "I don't mean to digress" Then don't. "but I see the Israeli issue in a similar light (i might be wrong though, since i'm no expert). How do you see reconciling TRUE democracy with having a Jewish state? Aren't the 2 notions inherently contradictory?" I have tired of these supposed "dialogues" between Arabs and Jews, where Arabs revert to the familiar anti-Zionist arguments and criticize the Jewish system of self government, to an audience of well-intentioned Jews who are too eager to be accommodating to see through the insincerity and speak up for us. Vibel: My answer to you, is that the chances of there being an Arab prime minister in Israel far outweigh the chances of there ever being a Jewish head of state, or any non-Arab head of state, for that matter - of an Arab nation. And you're right, my friend. You are not an expert on democracy. Because technically, there are no democracies. Even the United States is not a true democracy. If you're going to criticize Israel, be willing to criticize democracies across the board. In brief - Get your own houses in order first, my friend. The Arab world has its own problems. Then you can start critiquing ours.