No democracy in Arab countries: Palestinian FM Farouq Qaddoumi

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister, Farooq Qaddomi strongly criticized Arab regimes, describing them as totalitarian and dictatorial and said there is no democracy in the Arab countries at all.

Qaddomi told Yemen Times that “democracy in the Arab world does not exist because of the totalitarian political regimes and absolute monarchies.” He said democracy does not mean election only and that democracy is practiced in Lebanon and Palestine where people have the right to express their own views and the newspapers can criticize.

He observed that newspapers in other countries just praise the rulers who are far away even from self-criticism, adding that these countries have nice constitutions but they are not followed and that these regimes are concerned with how they can control the people, mainly through the intelligence offices which are “watching the people rather than the enemies of these countries.” He said that the only way to get rid of these dictatorships is not by ousting them by the U.S. like Saddam but through the continuous struggle of the people ,which will of course need time. MORE HERE IN THE YEMEN TIMES.