http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/capitol/palestinians_agree_with_romney_our_jNPMJqAR3fXhGK3sEqJnoL?fb_action_ids=3945125260161&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366Mitt Romney went to Israel and spoke an obvious truth that dare not be uttered: Culture matters.
He was derided and criticized by liberals back home and accused of being racist by one senior aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But now an unexpected chorus of support has arisen to reaffirm Romney's view -- Palestinians themselves.
Romney elaborated on his Israel comments in a piece in National Review saying "the choices a society makes about its culture play a role in creating prosperity, and that the significant disparity between Israeli and Palestinian living standards [is] powerfully influenced by it."
In other words a culture that embraces freedom and the rule of law, a society that respects individual rights and democracy can and will prosper economically and politically. One that doesn't embrace those principles and values will not.
Turns out Palestinians themselves understand this as well as Romney.
According to Palestinian Media Watch , a recent upsurge in so-called "honor killings" has lead to urgent calls for a cultural revolution. "Palestinian press reports about murders of Palestinian women by male family members, in so-called family "honor" killings, have been increasing," writes Itamar Marcus.
Marcus also notes that Palestinian officials and human rights advocates have called for new legislation against such practices as well as longer prison terms.
But several others have argued forcefully that as Marcus puts it, "the killings won't stop until there is a change in Arab - Muslim culture."
For example, an op-ed in the official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida declared as follows:
"If we wish to free our society from this crime's octopus grasp, we must first admit that without a cultural revolution that will cleanse our perceptions, our books, and our heritage from sanctifying murder performed in the name of Allah and honor... we will not be able to take a single step towards lessening this crime..."
An Israeli Arab academic on Palestinian TV said that "part of our [Palestinian] identity is to kill women... to beat women... Palestinian identity has its charms, but there are things that we have adopted from Arab culture for centuries that harm the individual and the woman."
An op-ed in Al Ayyam claimed that only a "tribal mentality" justifies the murder of women:
"Every day, more than one crime is committed against more than one woman... I shall criticize out loud the social culture that still seeks justifications for the murder of women. The rumors and justifications for murder heard after the killing of these two [victims] led a woman journalist to write an article demanding that we respect the reason for killing the girl [in Tulkarem]... As for the woman from Bethlehem who was murdered in front of people in the street without anyone trying to save her, people have already become experts at spreading rumors to convince us that her husband was right, and that there undoubtedly must be a reason that made the killing necessary... There is no justification for murder... and there is no country or country-in-the-making that still bases itself on the tribal mentality."
Just as Mitt Romney said, culture matters. And until Palestinian culture changes there can little hope for economic prosperity and no hope for peace.
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