June 10,2004
 
The Editor,
The Globe & Mail
 
Dear editor:
 
In you editorial,{ " Why delay reforms in the Arab world?" June 10}, you display admirable, but selective, concern for democracy and human rights in the Middle East. Together with Mr. Bush, you fail to call for democracy and adherence to human rights,as well, in Israel. 
 
Israeli practices in the Occupied territories stand in violation of virtually every article of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus identified, by international law, as war crimes, and have been condemned by all international as well as Israeli human rights groups.
 
Israel's racist practices and lack of democracy against its own Muslim and Christian citizens are manifest. The late Professor Israel Shahak, a Holocaust survivor and Chairperson of Israeli League for Human and Civl Rights, stated: " It is my considered opinion that the state of Israel is a racist state in the full meaning of this term. In this state, people are discriminated against, in the most permanent and legal way and in the most important areas of life, only because of their origin." The Israeli author, Maxim Ghilan, stated: " Israel is a democracy for Jews only.....Israel has gradually become a more and more openly racist country. Anyone not Jewish is at best a second class citizen." The Israeli thinker, Derek Tozer, stated: "The official policy of the government [of Israel] is unequivocal. Arabs, like the Jews in Nazi Germany, are officially 'Class B' citizens, a fact which is recorded on their identity cards."
 
So, in your admiral demand for democracy in the Middle East, your call should not be so selective.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Ismail Zayid, MD.