Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz, June 19:
From the perspective of Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu, the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip proves that the right-wing stance was correct all along. Israel didn’t have to quit Gaza in 2005 or withdraw from Lebanon in 2000, Netanyahu says. The conclusion of Netanyahu and National Union’s Zvi Hendel is that Israel should not negotiate over either the Golan Heights or the West Bank, because Syrian President Bashar Assad is unreliable and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is weak.
Such a position makes it seem like rockets weren’t being fired on Sderot when Israel was deep in Gaza, and Hamas wouldn’t have taken control of the strip if the Gush Katif settlement bloc had remained in Israel’s hands. Except that if Israel had not withdrawn from Gaza, the Palestinian fire would have been aimed at the settlers, and the Israel Defense Forces would have paid a heavy price to protect them.
But Netanyahu and Hendel are not moved by the death toll. According to their thinking, we will still be living by our swords in another hundred years. They are also unmoved by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They think Israel was charitable toward the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza because the quality of their lives rose during the years of occupation.
But the facts indicate otherwise. In 1970, the gross national product in the West Bank was $250 per capita, and today it is $1,300 – five times as hi gh in nominal terms. During the same period, Jordan experienced 10-fold growth, going from $280 to $2,800.
Similarly, Gaza’s GNP rose from $170 per capita in 1970 to $1,000 today, growing six times, while the figure in Egypt rose from $200 to $1,800 – nine times. In other words, the Palestinians’ conditions under Israeli rule worsened compared with the region, not to mention the large gap between them and us. Israel’s GNP per capita is 20 times larger than the Palestinians’.
Israel has used the resources of the West Bank and Gaza shamefully, taking full advantage of the occupied areas. For years, Israel prevented the Palestinian territories from developing and setting up factories due to opposition from Israeli industrialists, but exploited the cheap and humiliated labor pool. Palestinians stood on endless lines at the Erez Crossing starting at 2 A.M. to land a day’s work in Israel. Israel also saw the 3.5 million residents of the West Bank and Gaza as a captive market for Israeli products, generally those of inferior quality. To this day, Israeli factories in the fashion industry continue to take advantage of the cheap labor in Gaza for simple sewing work.
UPDATE: Conflicts Forum helps unpack the current Palestinian situation:
So here is what will happen. The United States will fail to deliver. Some money will trickle in, but not nearly enough. The little that does trickle in will be spent unwisely. Israeli may remove some outposts, but only a few, and the settlements will continue to expand and settler roads will continue to be built and Palestinians will continue to die. Israelis will die too. A Palestinian security guard will be trained and it will march smartly through the streets of Ramallah. If it should exchange fire with a militia led by Hamas it will just as smartly be defeated. And if there is an election in “Fatahstine,” Hamas will win, while at the White House, Tony Snow will talk about how the outcome was engineered in Tehran. And nineteen months from now, in the waning days of the Bush Administration — with American foreign policy in tatters — Elliott Abrams and Keith Dayton will proudly stand alongside a smiling President Bush as he honors them, the newest recipients of the Medal of Freedom.
I read this piece and was impressed. Last week in Parliament that wally new boy Cory Bernardi stated that the Palestinians get the highest level of foreign aid and support than any country on earth and that they are all evil terrorists.
I sent him the UN report by Alvaro De Soto and he said I was making stuff up so I sent him the report by Uri Avnery and he said Uri was biased and didn’t know anything so I sent him the aid figures showing that Israeli’s get $6000 a family from the US alone and the Palestinians get 29 cents.
The biggest mistake the Jews ever made was letting themselves be pushed around by the Americans from the 1970s onwards. As we now see in Iraq, the Americans have never had a clue about the Arab and Muslim worlds.
The jews should have learnt. Never negotiate.
Marilyn
The Palestinians are the only “people” ever born as perpetual dole-bludgers.
Get real Viva,
Were it not for America’s largess, Israel would be a third world country.
Which is only made feasible when you receive 2-3 billion in aid from the US.
Israel are have received the worlds biggest dole cheques for the longest time, so it would appear you are wrong…again.
viva’s loyalty to the cause is admirable.
Unforuntately, the facts are that Israel has made a profit from its’ occupation of the WB and GS, ie. Palestinians have paid for the privilege of occupation.
Quite a scam. I guess that makes the Palestinians unwilling ’sugar-daddies’.
Just like the US wanted the Iraqis to pay after they had been bombed to bits.
I read this piece and was unimpressed (and not just the headline which like many others around here like Jews who Hate I find offensive). It reminded me of the old line about damned lies and statistics. Mr. Shtrasler compares figures from 1970 with today. He’s very selective with his figures and uses the wrong dates for his benchmarks.
I’m not justifying occupation but if he’s undertaking this exercise, why not tell his readers how many universities, schools and hospitals there were in the West Bank and Gaza before and after. Why not reveal the life expectancy and infant mortality figures?
And why use today as a benchmark? Surely, the best benchmark figure for GNP should be 1995 by which time all of Gaza and the great bulk of major Palestinian towns had been transferred to the PA? Further, by 1995 both Egypt and Jordan had made peace with Israel – a fact that has reaped enormous benefit to their economies. Unfortunately for the Palestinian people, the economic expertise of the PA under both Fatah and Hamas administrations has been, let us say, underwhelming. Where are the economic initiatives undertaken by Hamas since Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005? Did Hamas do a thing for the 50,000 Gazans who lost their jobs as a result?
Oh, you’ll say, blame it on the occupiers. Go ahead and explain how, in economic terms you can increase your GNP while waging asymmetric warfare against neighbouring civilian populations? It doesn’t happen that way and you can scoff at the views of my Palestinian friends but if you deigned to talk to the real human beings over there, they would tell you that under PA rule, infrastructure in their cities, health services etc went backwards as they would when your administration is preoccupied with other things.
Then why not tell his readers how many homes and olive groves also existed before and after?
Don’ you mean aid from the West? Surely you can tel the difference between aid and investment?
This one takes the cake. Since Hamas came to power, Israel and the West have made it obvious that their intent was to starve the Palestinians for voting for the wring party. Israel illegally withholds 50 million from the PA and you are blaming hams for not doing
better?
Good question. You can’t, unless you are receiving massive amounts of aid from say, the US, like Israel does to the tune of more than 3 billion a year, including loans that they are not required to repay. Go ahead and explain in economic terms you can increase your GNP, while check points make it impossible to export produce out of the country and prevent resident getting to their place of employment or tending to their orchards?
I am not scoffing at the view of your Palestinian friends, but the proof is pretty irrefutable. the Majority of Palestinians apparently disagree with your friends, or they would not have elected Hamas.
I really stuffed up those quotation marks didn’t I?
Carrie,
Don’t worry. Please try again.