...The pomp and ceremony attached to the signing of the Geneva accord -- hundreds of guests from abroad, leading Swiss officials and former president Jimmy Carter attending the ceremony, followed by the Beilin-Rabbo meeting in Washington with U.S. officials -- befits a country without a strong democracy. The argument would be: What else to do, since Israel is not free and cannot determine its own policies through normal decision-making and public participation?

Of course, this has no relevance to Israel. Like Israel's policies or not, there is as great an interaction within the governing bodies and among government, the media, intellectuals and the public as in any society on Earth.

Why, then, this disrespect to Israel's democratic institutions, particularly at a time when the need for democracy in the Arab world is being emphasized as the most important weapon to combat Islamist terrorism?

I would suggest that there is a tendency in some circles to psychologically delegitimize the Sharon government without stating it so bluntly...