West Bank settlement and Mob Mentality

Today the BBC reported on intense Israeli protests over the ever controversial West Bank settlements. Many of the settlers are protesting over the halt of further expansion on the bank. Obviously their own boundaries aren't enough, and they must expand forward, gobbling up Palestine, or as the U.S and Israel would have us call it, the "Palestine territories." What makes the situation so historically ironic, is that the reason for the settlements, "there's not enough room to live, so we must expand" is the same reason used by the Third Reich for the Lebensraum action that annexed Poland, Austria, and the surrounding area. The fact that the U.N. itself deems these settlements illegal says a whole lot about arrogance of the Zionist state. That the Jews, after their Holocaust, would elect a ultra-nationalist leader, and impose themselves on an innocent people makes the sickest joke out of such a terrible event in history. The U.S. should recognize Palestine as a state, and cease funding the military of such an oppressive government.

On an unrelated note, a discussion in POL1201 on Tuesday brought up an interesting discussion on the forms of democracy, specifically, if a violent mob is democratic. Some of the students claimed that democracy mostly is a peaceful movement, and though the professor disagreed, I couldn't agree with his acknowledgement that a mob is undemocratic. Democracy does not mean "informed, calculated judgement of the people" it only means rule of the majority, and hence, if a mob is created, with no real leader, it is a democratic mob, its destruction cannot be pinned onto one person or idea, each person taking part is making a choice for themselves, regardless of whether or not it is a good one. Such a concept could explain why the founding fathers put barriers to true democracy into the constitution, and are we safer because of it? I don't really know.