The message of the free world to any potential Palestinian leadership should be a simple one: Embrace democratic reform and we will embrace you.

By helping readers understand these mechanics, I hope they will appreciate why freedom is for everyone, why it is essential for our security and why the free world plays a critically important role in advancing democracy around the globe.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

Only weeks after Oslo began, when nearly all the world and most of Israel was drunk with the idea of peace, I argued that a Palestinian society not constrained by democratic norms would be a fear society that would pose a grave threat to Israel.

Of course, there can be serious injustices within free societies.

Free societies are societies in which the right of dissent is protected.