Dear Mr. Khoury,
I sympathize with what you wrote but also disagree. The US democracy is a great model for certain Arab countries where religious groups coexist. The US constitution protects religious and other minorities. The US is a government of laws and not of men (rule of law). 'Minorities' in the Arab world are protected by 'the fear factor'.
I have also attended few city councils in NY state where local and political questions were debated in a very civilized way. Sometimes the debate was heated especially when the war in Iraq was discussed. Instead, of bashing it, we in the Arab world have a lot to learn form the American experience.
As for the Palestinian question and the 'Zionist lobby', maybe it is time for us to act and to lobby the rest of the world instead of just lamenting and waiting for others to do what we are supposed to do. Why would the US and other powers help the Arabs if their regimes are corrupt and antidemocratic? Many Americans sympathize with the Palestinians but also disagree with their doings. The Arab spring we are experiencing is a first step in this long 'to do' list towards democratization. Taking the battle to the UN is next. So is modernization and rejection of terrorism.
I am just afraid your article had a touch of lamenting.

Of course, you should look more to Europe because the Arab situation is closer to the European; there are also tribes living for a millennium on one plot of land, ethnic and religious divisions. Bloody wars were fought in Europe for land and loot under the mask of religions or ideology. It is difficult to explain all of this to someone raised in the American melting pot, but people of the Old World understand it intuitively.

As for democracy, it is only a way to replace government once it runs out of fresh ideas (which is after 5-10 years).

Mr. Khouri,

First I would like to thank you for your presentation at Villanova this past week, which was both insightful and entertaining.

Unfortunately, you are dead on about the pro-Israel bias that is firmly cemented in our politics. Any criticism of Israeli policy, no matter how valid, is met with accusations of Anti-Semitism and sympathy for terrorists (a trend that has been demonstrated in the comments section of this very article). One need look no further than the protesters who called President Obama a "Jew-Hater," simply because he suggested the Israelis should follow international law they themselves have already agreed to.

The fact that most Palestinians are neither terrorists nor Islamic extremists seems to be left out of the debate entirely. Most Americans are unaware that 11,000 Palestinians (some of them children) are currently in Israeli prisons, most of whom without trial.

When Americans realize that Palestinians are human beings who have just as much right to live in peace and dignity as their Israeli neighbors, perhaps then the U.S. could contribute in some meaningful way toward the peace process. Until then, Americans and Israelis will unite to ensure that the Palestinians will never be granted an equal seat at the bargaining table.

Democracy always ceases to exist when it comes to the Arab world all because of the Zionist lobby in America twisting facts. They are responsible for all the hate between the Arabs and the Americans: they are always the ones who pollute the atmosphere between Arabs an Americans.

Mr Kouri, you lived in the U.S. for 40 years and you still don't know that American democracy is failing in every test. Palestine and Israel, Wall Street vs. the American people, the military industrial complex vs. the people, oil companies vs. the people and you could go on and on. People keep on voting and falling behind democracy which is supposed to make its people’s lives better and not leave 40 to 50 million of its people with no health insurance while it is spending billions chasing the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan; in a country where its supreme court rules that a corporation is a person: that means democracy is for corporations and special interest groups and the rich but not for the people. So wake up everyone; smell the roses. And I leave you with a final thought: would any democracy allow for 10 percent of its people to own 78 percent of its wealth? Food for thought. Do the Arab people need advice from this kind of democracy?

Dear Mr. Khoury,

As a resident of Philadelphia, I am neither a Zionist zealot nor a deep supporter of Israel, but it is naive to believe Israel and the United States are completely at fault.

I applaud the Palestinians for taking their struggle to the U.N. I truly believe that Palestinians have every right to their own nation and own national identity. I only have one question: If the resolution were to pass, and the United States did not veto, then who is going to enforce the resolution?

While it is a noble action and will result in redirecting international focus to the Palestinian issue, I fear for the lives of both Palestinians and Israelis if the resolution were to pass because it would most likely spark an international crisis, a lose-lose for both Palestinians and Israelis. But it won’t because the Obama administration has clearly stated it will veto. What happens then? The world continues to hate the United States (which it already does vehemently), and the quest for direct talks seems even more unobtainable.

I don’t see any issues being resolved with a U.N. recognition of Palestine, only more lives lost on both sides. There are issues within the parties on both sides of the table, and until these are resolved, there will be no peaceful implementation of a Palestinian state, but then again, maybe a peaceful solution isn’t possible? We may find out in the next few weeks.

U.S. "democracy" is no model for the U.S. either. Particularly, because this ain't no democracy but full-blown imperialism. Great for the imperialists but not so much for those under its jackboot.

Mr. Khouri, you may have heard the quote, "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." There is some dispute about who originally said this, but nonetheless this is how America's founders generally regarded "democracy." This is why the USA was meant to be a representative republic, not a democracy. I agree, the city council debacle you witnessed is in fact what's wrong with American democracy. But this is not specific to America, it's the problem with democracy anywhere. The root problem in America goes back to the Civil War or War Between the States. This was the beginning of the end of our Republic.