Why Is Israel More Prosperous than the Palestinians?
In almost 40 years of studying these issues, I’ve never seen a better case study of mass media bias and knee-jerk narrowness than an aspect of the current flap about what presidential candidate Mitt Romney said during his trip to Israel. I’m going to focus on a single point because it brings this problem into sharp focus.
If you truly understand what you are about to read, I don’t see how you can accord most of the mass media any credibility when it comes to Israel ever again. Briefly, Romney mentioned the gap between the Israeli and Palestinian economies — ironically, he vastly understated the gap — and attributed it to “culture,” by which he meant, as Romney has said elsewhere, such things as democracy, individual liberty, free enterprise, and the rule of law.
But I’m not talking about Romney here or the media’s critique of him. What is interesting is this: How do you explain the reason why Israel is so more advanced in terms of economy, technology, and living standards? The media generally rejected Romney’s explanation and pretty much all made the same point. To quote the Associated Press story, that was:
Comparison of the two economies did not take into account the stifling effect the Israeli occupation has had on the Palestinian economy in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem—areas Israel captured in 1967 where the Palestinians hope to establish a state.
In the West Bank, Palestinians have only limited self-rule. Israel controls all border crossings in and out of the territory, and continues to restrict Palestinian trade and movement. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967, but has invested much less heavily there than in Jewish west Jerusalem.
Or, in other words, it’s all Israel’s fault. Yet in choosing to blame Israel, the media generally showed no interest at all in additional factors which are equally, or far more, valid.
I’m not suggesting that journalists and editors thought through the following list of factors and deliberately decided not to mention them. I think that these things never entered their minds. Yet how can that be? Some of these points require knowledge of the situation on the ground and its history. Still, many should be obvious to those who have read past newspaper accounts or just use logic, not to mention research.
Consider the points made below. You might count them for less, but anyone honest should admit that they add up to a compelling case:
1. The most devastating problem for the Palestinian economy has been the leadership’s refusal to make peace with Israel and to get a state. Most notably, the opportunities thrown away in 1948, 1979, and 2000 doomed both countries to years of suffering, casualties, and lower development. Today, in 2012, both Palestinian leaderships — Fatah and Hamas — continue this strategy.
2. Statistics show major advances in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the period of Israeli occupation. A lot of money also came in from Palestinians working in Israel (or to a surprising extent on the Jewish settlements).
3. The media should be expected to explain why Israel interfered at all once, by around 1994, almost all West Bank and Gaza Palestinians were under Palestinian rule. The reason, of course, was Palestinian violence against Israel and Israelis. If there had not been such attacks, Israeli forces would not have set foot in Palestinian-ruled areas. Stability would have encouraged development and foreign investment. There would be no roadblocks. Incidentally, roadblocks and restrictions on travel have changed constantly and at times of relative quiet became almost non-existent. Of course, Israel maintained control of the borders to prevent weapons from coming in.
4. There was a large transfer of funds (as provided in the Oslo agreement, but PA behavior did not make Israel violate the agreement) from Israel to the PA regarding refunds on customs duties and workers’ fringe benefits.
5.The well-documented incompetence and corruption of the Palestinian Authority. For example, there is no reliable body of law that a company could depend on there. Bribes determine who gets contracts. Literally billions of dollars have been stolen and mostly ended up in the European accounts of Palestinian leaders.
6. And where did those billions of dollars come from? They came from foreign donors who showered huge amounts of money on a relatively small population. Yet, even aside from theft, the money was not used productively or to benefit the people.
7. Because of the risks and attacks on Israel, the country stopped admitting Palestinian workers except for a far smaller number. Tens of thousands thus lost lucrative jobs and the PA could not replace these.
8. The unequal status of women in the Palestinian society throws away up to one-half of the potential labor and talent that could otherwise have made a big contribution to development.
9. And then there are the special factors relating to the Gaza Strip. Under the rule of Hamas, a group committing many acts of terror and openly calling for genocide against Israel, the emphasis was not put on economic development but on war-fighting. The shooting of rockets at Israel created an economic blockade. Note also, however, that Hamas also alienated the Mubarak regime in Egypt which also had no incentive to help it, instituting its own restrictions that were as intense as those of Israel.
10. The Palestinian leadership generally antagonized Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other oil-rich Arab states that were consequently not interested in helping them develop.
11. Also, compare the Palestinians to the Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, or Lebanese. In those places the excuse of “it’s all Israel’s fault” is hard to sustain, yet the Palestinians have done as well or better than those other Arabs who share a very similar political culture.
12. And incidentally, remember that Israel also had to cope with war, terrorism, and defense needs unequaled by the burden faced by any other democratic state in the world. Moreover, it could not trade for most of its history with any of its neighbors — and commerce is still limited — or any of the countries in the Arabic-speaking world that surround it. In addition, it has almost no natural resources. So while Israel received a lot of U.S. aid, most of that went into defense and not economic development. In other words, Israel’s has handicaps as impressive (or almost as marked) as the Palestinian ones.
My goal here was not so much to present these twelve points but to ask the question: Why is it that these factors were barely mentioned or not mentioned at all in the media analyses of Romney’s statement?
The answer, of course, is that most of the media is set on the blame-Israel argument. Yet even given this truth, why do they have to do so virtually 100 percent of the time with nothing about the other side of the issue? This applies to dozens of other questions, such as why peace hasn’t been achieved. And in this as in many other cases, they virtually take the PA’s talking points as their themes and facts.
Often, one suspects there are a lot of people in the mass media and academia who are totally uninterested in presenting anything other than an anti-Israel narrative. This article doesn’t mean to generalize about everyone, of course, but you who are doing that know who you are, and you readers know who they are!
There’s nothing exceptional about the Palestinians, culturally speaking. They would be as poor as many another small group that relies on a warrior ethos as a strategy in the modern world, if they didn’t get paid well for it by the outside world. Anyone who can’t see the Palestinians would be as poor as Egyptians, absent the Jews, isn’t thinking at even a basic level. We are not talking about mere media bias, we are talking about a widespread inability of people today to think beyond a secular form of mythological thinking in which any deviation from “equality” is a scandal against the way the world is supposed to be.
All your points are good, Mr. Rubin, but they are focussed on the Palestinians. Of course, the Jews are culturally exceptional and this is the real challenge to clear thinking. We should try to understand why the Jewish model is not readily taken up anywhere, let alone among the Arabs. To blame Israel is to miss the point completely, which is kind of the point of the secular or modern form of mythological “thinking”.
My best wishes to you.
“We should try to understand why the Jewish model is not readily taken up anywhere”
Actually, it is easy to understand. The Jews, on average, possess a higher IQ than other groups. A society needs a certain level of geniuses to advance, and Israel has these in abundance. Europe and the rest of the Western world may have it’s flaws, but consider where we would be without the likes of Einstein. (Consider where Europe would be today if they didn’t annihilate 6 million Jews, including probably a great many geniuses) There is a good reason many high-tech companies have R&D centers in Israel.
Much of anti-Semitism is rooted in simple jealousy. In spite of the persecutions laid upon them over the centuries, they have the intellect to overcome and be successful.
It is the same sad story concerning all inferior cultures and ideologies.
They simply are outclassed by better forms of thinking, better outlooks, and more efficient systems of problem solving resulting in natural, exponentially compounding advancements that the inferiors call “crimes”.
It happens even within a culture..
“that Doctors kid is a yuppie snob” sayeth the crack-head dropout.
“its not fair he has such an advantage” sayeth the unemployed 17 year old with 3 children.
No mention the doctors son actually took all those AP classes, DID all his homework year after year, and may have the capacity to BE a surgeon himself one day, just like his dad. That is, IF he stays away from drugs, carousing with hoodlums, and engaging in utterly stupid behaviors that would certainly “cost him” his future.
Leftism is simple envy, a rage to destroy and re-order a system they cannot otherwise compete and succeed in.
All else must be dragged down so they may measure up.
Islam is exactly the same. Its people live in abject poverty, everywhere, save for the small bits of loot and booty a select few manage to acquire through terrorism. They create no real sustainable wealth for themselves on a widespread basis, even when it flows from the ground and is sold to the richest people who ever existed.
Some systems and attitudes are inferior. Japans notion of a warrior elite for instance. It lead to their utter destruction, an ignominious and humiliating physical defeat on a scale I can find no (real) comparison to.
But they LEARNED.
They ACCEPTED the ways, and the outlook of a SUPERIOR CULTURE…and the rancors of irrational hatred are magically gone, along with the scars of war…
If you need further proof of Superior Modeling and the results they can achieve, Compare Hiroshima and Nagasaki from August 10 of 1945, to the August 10th of today.
Then to the same for Detroit.
Newark.
Camden.
Philadelphia.
Some ideologies lead to failure and hardship. Others, to success.
A Superior Culture will argue these points, measure, decide, and move forward.
An Inferior Culture will sit, and scream, that any such notions are simply “racist”.
Well said.
You can say that again!
I believe it was Norman Rockwell who made the statement that a feeling of importance is right up there on the scale of what humans require as a need for water and air. I think this is absolutely true and leads to this jealousy from the Left that you talk about. They create narratives to make themselves feel better ignoring the better narratives, logic and various facts to get them to where they need to be so that they may feel important.
This idea of Jewish exceptionalism is silly. Jews on average probably do not have a noticeable higher IQ’s on average than most people and I certainly wouldn’t put Arabs on the bottom of the list. Maybe the readers of PJ Media have noticed. When Jews vote they vote like morons. As for the Arabs they excel in America. They really do.
Corruption is the big killer in the Arab world and nobody are more corrupt than the Palestinians. In every country they have gone to they have created a quasi-government dedicated to emptying out the host country. They did it in Jordan and Lebanon and there may be the beginnings of it in Egypt. Israel succeeded because at some level it was an open society. Corruption is a problem in Israel and could spell doom but so far it is not complete. Corruption is something that is killing the American dream as well. The Obamaniacs are acting every day more like a state within a state.
The AP will excuse the Palestinians because shining a light on their corruption would haunt the Left. The you weren’t allowed to build that line is just an extension of the Left’s you didn’t build that line.
You might be right about IQ – I’d love to see actual study about that.
But it is absolutely unmistakable that proportion of Jews among prominent people is much higher than jewish population percentage. For example, 22% of all of Noble Prize winners are Jews. Same goes for doctors, lawyers (not sure that’s such a good thing
), creatives, etc. In every country where jews were not systematically killed they excelled way above what their population say they should. Even simple repressions (like in Russia) was not enough.
I agree with you regarding voting patterns of American Jews – they do vote like morons.
They vote “like” morons but not “as” morons…
I think they vote with an automatic (but misguided) sympatheric impulse…one that allows for anything that gives “something away” to those of less acomplishment than themselves, be it the poor, criminals, or even our enemies…
As perpetual achievers, they feel they can “witstand” these small giveaways in the hope it “helps” others get better situated….
In other words, their own confidence in their abilities to succeed, no matter the circumstances, leads them to unwittingly undermine their own success by voting for Democrats who they KNOW arent looking out for them, because ‘They (think) they can afford it”
I don’t think the question of Jewish exceptionalism turns on IQ. If there is a measurable difference it is likely more the result than the cause of Jewish exceptionalism, which I would take to be an unavoidable historical fact, rooted in the monotheist revelation of a universal God with no name to invoke for special pleading – what other small group has survived for so long as a distinct entity, marked history by their religious culture and by their over-representation in the successes of the modern age.
But you are perhaps on to something with the “political stupidity” narrative. (What the Jews have done, politically, in America pales besides the history of Jews in the Communist movements of Eastern Europe.) One might intuit that a proper appreciation of Jewish exceptionalism requires us to move beyond the leftism that might be seen as having been a vain attempt to deny it, to appease antisemitism.
I’d rather think that it has more to do with Jewish cultural (historically) attitudes toward education and child rearing, rather than any racial or genetic attributes. Also, consider the etymology of the Yiddish word “macher”, commonly known as “big shot”, or similar, but really it’s about a “well-connected person”. So, in the days before social media, the Jewish people knew the value of being well-connected. Israel benefits from the high-tech, pharmaceutical, etc. achievements of the well-connected people who have found Israel a good place to do business.
I believe that religion is the reason for this. Because one have to be able to read Torah to pray properly, Judaism demands certain level of literacy. Ability to read was requirement of Judaism for a millennia.
At the time when Europe was mostly illiterate, even poorest jew could read and write.
One of the present tribes of Israel built a culture that encourages acheivement and success in it’s members, and did so well enough to drag the averages up for all Jews. Superior intellegence is not a necessity for this.
To the best of my knowledge, Islam has no such tribe or sect. The members of all self limet so that they are less successful than those who have higher status in their culture/tribe/clan/family leaving excellence only to those on top the heap, only a few of those are able to achieve excellence, and few of /those/ will actually strive for excellence.
This is really partly true. Although from day one the Jewish immigration improved the economy to the point where Arabs (most of the so-called “Palestinians”) poured into the area, and the settlers (I mean the people who built the state originally) certainly made tremendous advances in agricuture and so forth, the fact is that the State until relatively recently suffered greatly from socialism and crony capitalism.
It is only in recent history that the State threw off much of the burden of socialism, lowered the income tax rates, and moved from the third-world country I recall from my school days to the first-world country it is today. If there is any example of the success of supply-side economics, it is Israel.
One of the major factors preventing peace has been the media.
Islam hates Jews more than life itself. They refuse to acknowledge the existance of Israel or its rights to live on their own land. With this attitude as a premise to any negotiations with Israel, how does the media cause the problem?
Because under Einstein’s rule, the PA is the sanest organization in the world. The most they say “no”, the more they are rewarded. Why sould they make an agreement? Remember, they are not religious fanatics; FATAH is a semi-Communists secular organization that knows how to use religion when necessary.
The PA is interested in one thing – power, and will do whatever it needs to keep it.
Also, the media puts Israel in a position where it must show sucidal “restraint”.
Given the midea, I’m surprised anyone is still pro-Israel.
If I were a Palestinian, I would have little incentive to make peace. I would have learned in school that there was no ancient Israel, no Holocaust, and Palestine was stolen (not conquered) from the Palestinians. Recognizing Israel would mean that I would acknowledge that Jews have a claim to the land. I learned in school that the Jews have no historic claim to Palestine. I would recognize that the entire Muslim world supports my position, as does the EU, Iran, Russia, and China. Even the president of the US has apparently a lukewarm position on Israel. Therefore, why should I go out and work for a living when I can blame Israel for everything from global warming to erectile dysfunction. I am a brave fighter for justice, and I have the worlds most durable prejudice (anti-Semitism) as my steadfast ally
You’re right, of course, and what makes it the more infuriating is that the American taxpayer, by contributing to the UN, funds the “education” handed out to the Palestinians. How I wish we could stop our contributions! or at least to certain selected empires inside the UN.
Obvious, but I never thought to consider it from that angle. You called it right.
And if I were a leader of the PA, why woudl I want to say “yes”, when every time I say “no”, I get more sympathy and more is offered to me?
I have been waiting so long for an article like this. Mr. Rubin, you have stated so perfectly the contentions I’ve held for so many years. Thank you sir.
Thinking about this I offer the following observations from a British perspective.
1. In this country there is always a sense of “supporting the underdog” and that is how many on the left/liberal side think of Palestinians for some reason. It’s quite possible that if they became more successful the support would decrease. Although I am too young to remember it I think there was widespread public admiration here for Israel at the time of the six day war but by the early 80s this had ebbed away? My father who worked in the city of London was very impressed by one of his staff who mysteriously disappeared for a few weeks in 1972 and returned a little more tanned and explained he had been driving/commanding a tank in the Sinai. I think it reminded him of his own “gap year” which lasted for four years and involved 60 trips over Nazi occupied Europe
2. Class. In Britain the lower your social class the more likely you are to like the US and Israel. If you don’t go to university you might not get so much exposure to the elitist contempt and disdain for the judeo-christian worldview.
It’s one reason that the churches that grew out of working class,grass roots protestantism,house church movement etc are much more pro Israel than high Anglican and Methodist churches. From what I can glean from US media the upper class of Americans seem to want to emulate the very aspects of European culture which are causing it’s decline!
3.If anyone is interested (unlikely!)I would recommend Peter Hitchen’s “The Rage Against God” for a good overview of the reasons for the decline of christianity in Britain. This is pivotal to how Israel is viewed now.
The “intifada” strategy has proven more effective than the old Arabs League strategy. When it was poor, plucky little Israel vs. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and basically the whole Muslim world, then Israel was the underdog. When the Palestinian “refugees” took to the streets, the image transformed into that of poor, ragged, rock-throwing peasants vs. Israeli tanks and helicopters. That’s when the underdog came to be seen as the big bully. Obviously, as Mr. Rubin says, it is to the Palestinians’ advantage to continue playing the helpless victim rather than actually solving their problems. Israel may have won all the military wars, but it lost the PR war a long time ago.
Your youthful observations are, er, “Spot On”. The media, after the horrors of Hitler’s Nazi death camps were widely known, were all for a “Jewish State” and the reestablishment of Israel, since they were generally viewed as the “Underdogs” and the media’s almost always for “the Little Guy”. (As long as he knows and stays in his place, of course.) That all changed after the ’67 war and the Israelis were not only victorious, they wisely retained the lands they fought in that their attackers used to invade them. (Try successfully defending a nine mile wide strip of land [the narrowest part of "Israel" as established by the United Nations] that has the Mediterranean to the west and your mortal enemies to the east.) Then, to add insult to injury, they became much more successful stewards of their desert lands, bringing life to where, for thousands of years, there had been only death and desolation. Compounding their effrontery, they became highly successful in the midst of squaller and apathy by being a great conservative ally and friend of America (as we used to be).
In the final analysis, the Jews are always to blame. Absent the Israelites, who else would be a convenient receptacle for the woes of humanity? It’s a two thousand year old custom. Such is the way of our world.
@Carla
If what you say is true, you have reduced humanity to a bunch of blathering idiots given to envy and general hubris. No, I am of the opinion that each act of antisemitism serves someone’s very specific economic or political interest.
Example: Recently, I read two diaries in succession, one dealing with the Hungarian Jewish community and one dealing with the Polish Jewish community during the Holocaust. By chance in each book the diarists had escaped the initial roundup of Jews and had returned to their homes after their families had been taken away. In both cases, they returned to find Gentile neighbors eating the dinner meals that had been prepared by the Jewish families that had lived their less than an hour before.
I like these examples of antisemitism, since they point to envy, jealousy and hubris as economic acts no different from the English expulsion of the Jews so as to avoid paying the debts incurred by the royals in their European wars or the Russians’ composing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to removes their responsibility for the penury of the recently freed serfs or the Palestinian plundering of Western treasuries by not making too much trouble in the Middle East, just enough to keep the money spigots open and not so much as to incur the ire of the generous donors.
It’s worth pointing out that the Palestinians have excelled in two fields; in both they have made major contributions to the world.
The first is in anti-Israeli propaganda. Israel was the darling of much of the Western world after 1948; she became so again after her stunning victory, from the brink of utter disaster, in 1967. To the extent that Palestinian sympathies have risen (at the expense of Israeli sympathies) since then, it’s been almost entirely due to brilliant Palestinian anti-Israel PR (and Israeli PR in response that was lackluster, at best). A classic example is the very word ‘Palestinian’, which today means a descendant of the Arabs dispossessed from what became Israel in 1948. Prior to then, of course, the word had meant, for hundreds of years, simply a resident of Palestine (which is itself the name given to the province of Judea after being conquered by the Romans). Today it seems ridiculous to many that there can be such a thing as a Jewish Palestinian (e.g. my father-in-law). Ironically, such people see nothing wrong in Israeli Arabs calling themselves Palestinians.
The second, of course, is the pioneering work done by Palestinians in global terrorism. They didn’t invent it, but they did popularize it. The first skyjackings were Palestinian, as were the most prominent; prior to 9/11, the most celebrated acts of terrorism (and, thus, the most successful in the eyes of terrorists) were all Palestinian. Just when Israelis thought it couldn’t get any worse, Palestinians pioneered the mass use of suicide bombers in the second intifada, circa 2000. The Palestinian influence on world terrorism would be difficult to overstate.
Have there been other Palestinian contributions of equal magnitude? I’m not aware of any.
On the Israeli side, we have significant inventions too numerous to mention (from drip irrigation in the 1940s to the swallowable medical camera in the 2000s), Nobel Laureates in literature and the sciences, R&D that has changed the world in every conceivable technical field, and much more. And it’s considered “racist” to attribute such obvious differences to culture? (The true racism, of course, would be to attribute these differences to the inherent superiority of one group to another. Nobody is making such claims… certainly not to the advantage of Israelis.)
The first act of palistinian terrorism on US soil was the assassination of Bobbie Kennedy because he supported Israel. That the left fawns over a people who killed their darling just shows they have no moral standards and are every bit as treacherous as the pals they gush over.
Somehow, somewhere along the line these people (the media and all leftists worldwide) have made the decision that the world would be a better place without Israel. To them, the deaths of a few million people is a small price to pay if it quieted that region of the world. It would also add the side benefit of being able forget all about that nasty business of the holocaust. Israel itself is an uncomfortable reminder of what the world – them -did to these people.
These are all valid points, but I’d add:
1) At no time was there any ‘offer’ of a free and independent Palestinian state. The various agreements offered limited municipal government, with air space, below ground resources and borders still within Israeli control and to be negotiated.
2) The fact of the occupation of the W Bank is not reducible to only one factor: Palestinian hostility. There are other vital aspects to be considered; namely, Israel cannot annex the W Bank and absorb it within the Israeli state because to do so would require that all the Palestinians there would become Israeli citizens. Since Israel is committed to a Jewish majority, then, this would imbalance and reject that majority.
Plus, water is a key resource in the Middle East, and control of the vital W Bank aquifers is essential to Israel. They cannot allow it to pass into the control of a ‘free’ Palestinian state. It is not merely that they do not trust the Palestinians, but they are concerned that a free Palestine would be swallowed and taken over by Iran in a nanosecond.
Therefore, the occupation continues, feeding ancient hostilities and grievances.
We must also consider that these hostilities are not just modern, ie, 20th century. The Settlers consider the W Bank ‘theirs’ as a direct gift from God, a non-debatable argument after all. Both orthodox Jews and Muslims view each other with ancient, spitting hostility and point to texts in each other’s sacred books supporting these hostilities.
These are not simple issues to be glossed over, but,
3) Cultural DOES matter, and beyond these ancient textual hostilities, it is a fact that the majority of Israelis came from Europe, which already had an economic culture of individual entrepreneurship, capitalism and industrialism. The Palestinian zone, on the other hand, had a non-industrial economy based around local village small scale horticulture (local crops, small animals such as sheep and goats), and a rejection of individual freedom and entrepreneurship.
This are two vitally different mindsets and economies, that include family structures, modes of life, financial expectations – and the Palestinian authorities, which we acknowledge as corrupt, made no effort, either intellectually or financially, to modernize their population, bring them into the modern industrial mindset and move them out of the village-family tribal culture into an industrial economy focused around progress, growth etc.
4) On another note, the other Arab or Islamic nations, equally showed no interest in Palestinians as a people except to use them as a buffer against Israel. We in the West mistakenly view ‘all Arabs as Arabs’ but the reality is that there are deep, ancient, irrational hierachies and the Palestinians were viewed as ‘lowlife ignorant peasants’ by other Arab peoples.
[I think an interesting comparison could be made between the Palestinians and the Haitians - but that's another thread.]
You lie. The Arabs were offered a two-state solution many times and rejected it.
The Brits gave the Arabs 78% of the Palestine mandate (today’s Jordan) and the UN agreed to divide the rest (22%) into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted that plan though they ended up getting only about 11% of the original Palestine mandate, the Arabs rejected it and attacked Israel. During the current so-called peace process the Arabs rejected all proposals that did not include a complete Israeli surrender to their demand to settle the descendants of the Arab refugees inside Israel. In 2000/1 the Israeli government, lead by Ehud Barak, proposed an independent Arab-Pal state in over 90% of the disputed territories, a division of Jerusalem and compensations for the refugees (there were more Jewish refugees from Arab states than Arab refugees from Israel, BTW, but nobody cares to talk about them). Arafat rejected that proposal and started the second intifada. In 2005, acknowledging that an agreement can’t be reached at this time, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza strip. Had that move lead to more peaceful conditions, such as stopping the rocket attacks from Gaza, the same model would have probably been adopted for Judea and Samaria too. Instead the rocket attacks increased 500% in the year following the withdrawal and doubled again the next year, Hamas won the parliamentary election, took over Gaza and, in accordance with Hamas charter, declared all agreements with Israel null and void, effectively declaring war on Israel. Still in 2008 the Israeli government, lead by Ehud Olmert, proposed an independent Arab-Pal state on 93-97% of the disputed territories and the rest in land swaps, which would make it 100%, a settlement in Jerusalem and compenstaion for the refugees. Abbas told Olmert he suddenly remembered he had some other engagement and he’ll get back to him on this proposal, but he never got back. To the media Abbas said that proposal proved Israel is not serious about peace (because Israel didn’t accept the demand to resettle the descendants of the Arab refugees inside Israel) and he also decalred he won’t give any refugee a citizenship in the Palestinian state.
The Pal-Arabs, BTW, were not a nation anytime in the past, nor a distinct ethnic or cultural group. They were simply Arabs. According to their own recollections and genetic data, the Pal-Arabs come from two origins: Arabs who migrated from various other parts of the Middle East, such as today’s Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, and native Jews and Samaritans who were forced to Islamize. Even back in the 1920s there was not a distinct Palestinian national or ethnic identity, and the supposed “godfather of Palestinian nationalism”, Amin al Husseini, the Nazi mufti of Jerusalem, didn’t envision an independent Palestinian state, but saw it as a part of either “greater Syria” or of a unified Arab state which would encompass most of the Middle East. Palestine was a small part of a province, the Syrian province, in the Ottoman empire. Before the establishment of the modern state of Israel the last time it was an independent polity was before the Roman conquset and then it was called Judea and was rulled by the Jewish Hashmonean dynasty. It was renamed Palaestina by the Romans after defeating the Jewish rebellion. After that it was always a part of this or that empire and never an independent national polity – the Byzantine empire, this or that Muslim kingdom or empire, the British empire. So when did an Arab-Palestinian nation rise? This identity was formed as a reaction to Israel, which is why there was never an Arab-Palestinian state in the past, nor distinct Palestinian language, culture, kings, coins or any other characteristics that define a nation, which is why so many people regard them as simply Arabs and not as a nation on their own. You’re right that the other Arabs abuse them, but they don’t use them as a “buffer” against Israel like you said, but as an instrument of war against the existence of Israel.
One reason for the blame Israel habit, however, is partly Israel’s fault, and that is the widespread acceptance in Israel of the “occupation” model, that the Levy report now has gone a long way to dispel, but the rest of the world holds on to like a bulldog. Once most of Israel steadfastly holds to our legitimate claim to those lands instead, then Israel enters any negotiations, if there ever is any use for them at all, not as an evil, illegitimate “occupier” but as a rightful claimant. If Israel holds her ground on this principle, the rest of the world will squawk, but they’ll have to like it or lump it. And the media will have to cope with it in their coverage.
Most Islamic countries and cultures in the world that have not embraced secularism are stuck in the 7th century. Take away the oil wealth owned by some and they would be mired there as well.
Islam is not stuck in the seventh century. It has advanced to the fourteenth century of their existence. As a parallel examine the continent of Europe in the fourteenth century — before Renaissance, Reformation and Age of Enlightenment. The only difference between Islam and Christendom is the absence of a literate middle class with aspirations. Senior Catholic prelates were the Imams of the day.
Why should we expect Islam to act any different than the duchies, princedoms and monarchies of Europe? They will not advance in political thought until their own Age of Enlightenment takes place and we have a Muslim John Locke, etc.
But then, why should Israel have expected a Palestinian Diaspora to the lands beyond next door? I realize that it believed that Lebensraum was needed for the return to the Homeland of those Jewish people overseas..
I always thought that argument was a little silly. True, one can make a comparison of 1,400 years in a culture’s life, but here’s a big difference. In the European 1,400s, the amount of learning was limited. There might have been a dozen “universities” throughout the continent and each village, town, and city were fairly isolated. Trade was beginning to be reestablished on a continent-wide basis. But for the most part, Europe was still pretty isolated country to country or kingdom to kingdom, however you want to phrase it.
In the Muslim 1,400s, they have access to the past 600 years of knowledge, enlightenment, history, etc. They can learn from the rest of the world and see what works and what doesn’t. They choose not to.
In my opinion, a culture’s age doesn’t really lend itself to comparison, especially not with the resources available.
The Palestinians and other arabs are so very lucky that their enemies are Jews. Could you imagine anyone taking any of their claims of persecution and conspiracy seriously if their adversaries were Chinese, Indian, Russian or African. They would be laughed out of the UN. Lucky for them everyone is willing to shit on the Jews.
Boy that’s a tough question,
could it be because Jews are really smart
and
Arabs are really dumb?
Well, we have to understand most of the media come from the liberal arts side of the academy. This in itself, historically, was not a bad thing. However, today the liberal arts are more the Liberal arts, with a good dose of Progressive propaganda. Still this would be a weak impact except that for the last 30-40 years the majority of the students entering elite schools and especially the Liberal arts department have no grounding work or actually supporting themselves. Without a basis on which to judge the deceptive claims they are saturated with, they become acolytes and throw off classical critical thinking for the modern thinking critically of certain peoples.
Then they head off to journalism school to discover that the real job of reporting fact is boring and not near as endearing as “spin” and judgement. Worse, with a widening world, journalists are increasingly revealed to be ignorant of the subjects they report on and worse, not minful of that fact. The fact is without the skepticism imbued by studies in math and science, or the realism imposed by operating in the rough and tumble of the real world, the journalist has no way to and has been “educated” to not apply judgement as to the validity of what they are told.
As for culture between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel has a modern western culture adopting the industriousness of Northern Europe and the decidedly English-speaking world invention of being able to profit from your ideas (patents). This permits the traits of industriousness and respect for true learning, especially in the economically useful fields, to come together and create useful things. Without the rule of law, respect for private property, embrace of objective knowledge and reward for innovation, you cannot have a growing society or even a wealthy society unless you happen to sit upon some natural resource others wish to purchase. But cultivate your natural resource of humans being able to profit from their ideas and your resource has no limit but can dry up for a time if the human is denied freedom and liberty.
When the Turks/Muslims started choking off the Middle East in the dark ages, many productive non-Muslims (Jews and a few Christians) fled to Europe to escape the sword. Once there, their work ethic and higher education helped spark the Renaissance.
Why is Israel prosperous?? Two of the major guidelines for a Jewish world-view is “L’Chaim” (To Life) and “Tikkun Olam” (Repair the World).
These two watchwords both depend on a world-view that is reality-based. What matters is Life itself, in the here and now, and not on any promises of heavenly salvation or afterlife. It really does not matter what comes afterwards; we should do our works for the good in the world that we are given, flaws and all.
The notion of Tikkun Olam — Repair the World, is a by-product of L’Chaim… if the purpose of Life is to perpetuate and honor Life itself, then we are obligated to repair/improve the world, in which that Life resides.
Even if the notion of Tikkun Olam has been taken over by Jewish Liberals, it still does not abrogate the fact that its premise is sound.
Outstanding post, Loretta!
You will not find either concept in classic Jewish literature. Tikun Olam, as you describe it, is a distortion of an obscure mystical concept for the purpose of replacing the Bible with the Democratic National Platform. The previous attempt was called “prophetic Judaism”.
One side sees their children as the future
The other side sees their children as bomb delivery devices
What about the years between 1948 and 1967? Gaza and the West Bank, originally part of Israel, were ‘occupied’ by Egypt and Jordan, respectively. Compare the progress made in Gaza and the West Bank to that of Israel in the same time period.
I must admit that the truth seeker in me has always recoiled at the idea that the Jewish people aren’t somehow more talented then other people. I am not Jewish and state this as an observation of fact. Like bananas are yellow. But in this case stating the obvious makes you a “racist”. I think something is wrong with our culture when we can’t make an observation that on it’s face is accurate and true, without being called out as some kind of reprobate. I feel the same way about other races of people and find it odd that we are supposed to just ignore reality.
It does make you wonder doesn’t it? With both cultures in such close proximity to each other.But then again when has there ever been an advanced civilization ran by Muslims? It is like waiting for Kenya to launch a space program, ain’t never gonna be happening.The only real contribution those people have ever made was by Mesopotamian.They invented the mud Brick.
This article is very clear about the fact that American mainstream news media whether radio, cable TV or internet offers biased anti-Israel propaganda in the place of objective analysis on Israel and on US Middle East foreign policy.
US Colleges and Universities have increasingly become hotbeds of anti-Israel propaganda in class and outside of class. They are graduating generations of anti-Israel students, both Jewish and non-Jewish who go into the fields of teaching and journalism where they can then influence large numbers of other Americans to assume that Israel is the cause of the problems in the Middle East.
The propaganda against Israel in this country is so continual, and in so many media (TV, print, radio, internet). Sending protest letters containing the facts such as those Professor Rubin put forth could end up being a full time job.
But attitudes can and do change. American liberals once were strongly supportive of Israel and gradually they changed and have joined the ranks of those who blame Israel. So maybe it is possible for liberals to change and learn, and eventually reconsider their points of view about Israel.
It may take time, but that’s why it’s important that all of us use our knowledge of the facts about Israel to speak the truth in the face of anti-Israel bias and distortion.
The main reason is converion to islam.
Al hindus converted to islam in pakistan ,bangladesh and in India are poor and uneducated and unprodcutive.While hindu after 100 yrs of slaery are still progressive.
Same is true with jews .
Conversion to islam is the problem.
I thought Leon Uris answered this question decades ago in the opening chapters of “The Haj”.
Because Palestinian mothers raise their sons to become doctors and lawyers, and Israeli mothers raise their sons to blow themselves up to honor their religion. Oh, wait…..
As a living, breathing Jew, I think Jews are born as smart and dumb as non-Jews. This is apparent in our choice of usually leftist politicians who are anti-Individual.
It is our complete emphasis on education and our embrace of democracy that makes the case that Israeli society is more developed than Palestinian society. And I agree with your point that the PA and Hamas are generally anti-women, half of their society.
It’s not just hatred of Israel that explains the difference. I remember at the start of the Oslo process, the Jerusalem Post ran an article of the improving Palestinean economy. However, all the new businesses eventually closed owing to the arbitrary “taxes” applied to them by the different PA departments and militias in order to stay open.
What causes the difference: Jewish culture which includes hard work.
Well said Mr.Rubin, I still don’t know how or why these points are not seen more. As for the Arabs of Palestine, their more interested in finding out how their great leader Arafat died, instead of improving the life of their people.
Not only the Palestinians, LoveAmerica. Many of us would like to know what dastardly deed brought about the demise of Arafat.
AIDS, probably. Obtained the usual way.
But why are you so concerned about a man who ordered the murder of two American diplomats?
I have lived and traveled in a number of 3rd world countries and one thing they all have in common is overpopulation and subjugation of women. In these countries women are seen as human incubators and beasts of burden prevented by the men from making decisions on their own lives especially on the issue of contraception. At the same time in these countries men measure their success and manliness by the number of children they sire whilst caring not a jot for the welfare of their children. When a country excludes 50% of its citizens from careers and education and breeds way beyond its resources success will be extremely rare to find.
Sounds like Detroit, Baltimore, Newark and Stockton have a similar problem. I wonder what the similarity it?
‘In almost 40 years of studying these issues, I’ve never seen a better case study of mass media bias’
Hey Barry,I found another mass media bias on something else that the media will keep buried very deep.
‘While Assad’s grip on the country has been eroded as the uprising has gathered momentum, his forces have consistently demonstrated their overwhelming firepower advantage against lightly armed rebels.’
When Israel uses ‘it’ the hypocrites nation’s and their media who hate to see Jews defeating their enemies lash out and call it disproportionate force.
The truth that the disgusting, perverted media will never report is that the level of death and destruction by Muslim fracticide on Syria’s major cities and civilian population and Israel’s war in Gaza in 2009 are incomparable.
The Muslims have proven to be the greatest threat to themselves.
That is why so many deceivers,liars,propagandists and taqiyya con men like Alex Jones try and blame Israel for what their partners are doing in Syria and elsewhere.
Buggery of little boys (aids) is probably what “done him in.” When family and education and good deeds are modeled and taught from the earliest age, there is good results. When hatred, violence, and abuse of family members are taught and modeled, the results are what you see in the Arab world.
As someone of Jewish heritage myself (Persian), I would say that it’s not that we’re inheritly smarter or superior to anyone, it’s that we’re taught to make the most of the life and education is stressed and rewarded in our community. So is doing good for the world (Tikkum Olam). We tend to be successful in the Financial field, where I work myself, and have been hated for it since time immemorial. It’s just the way it is, and we’re used to people hating us. However, I do really appreciate it when I hear positive comments about us for a change. You have no idea how much it means to me.
Thank you, -Tabris Esfahani