Land or a Paycheck?
By Amit Singh | Monday, December 29th, 2008 | PolicyI’m saddened to see the latest conflict between the Israelis and Hamas. For starters, I believe Israel has every right to defend itself and that Hamas is a democratically elected terrorist organization. We can argue until we are blue in the face about who started what and when but those discussions are rarely productive. The real question is how to achieve long-term peace and prosperity.
The diplomats will focus on how to carve a 2-state solution based on land appropriations, which I do think can play a part in the peace process but the root problem as I see it is the lack of a decent economy in Palestine. No doubt the hawks in Israel would love to kill every terrorist they can find but that strategy is never-ending. Many at the U.N. scold Israel for disproportionate responses to attacks because they seem unfair. However, my concern with the disproportionate responses is that they are often designed to limit basic resources to the Palestinians so much of their time is spent on basic survival needs.
Tactically, I can understand Israel’s plan, but long-term strategically it simply won’t work. I have a strong biased towards using Capitalism as an ambassador of peace and in this case it would mean allowing the Palestinians to more easily get business permits and not destroying their entire infrastructure. Organizations such as Hamas are often strengthened by Israeli attacks because they end up offering many of the basic services, which in turn assists in recruitment and fundraising. Meanwhile, the Palestinians also have to understand much of their situation is their own doing and blaming others will not change that, so I was happy to hear Abbas squarely putting the blame for the recent violence on Hamas for breaking the truce. Regardless, until the economic situation of everyday Palestinians is improved they will continue to be vulnerable to pay-offs from rich Saudis and other forms of recruitment.
Land is important but paychecks are imperative.
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8 Responses to "Land or a Paycheck?"
Amit,
I think the current conflict is fueled by the efforts of extremists on both sides.
However I do not feel it is Israel’s responsibility to fund economic development in the land that would become the Palestinian state. What money that has been made available in the PA lands has often disappeared due to corruption and been leveled when hostilities once again break out.
I support George Dubyah Bush’s efforts on the Israeli/Palestinian issue, although I might fault him for not giving the matter enough effort. I also might fault him for not providing enough arm twisting to ensure that “our side” conforms to the requirements of peace initiatives after they have been set.
Of course non-conformance is one of the goals of the extremists on “our side”. All too often the extremists have been successful in achieving their goals.
Good points. Of course with no good solution in sight, unfortunately. This conflict will probably continue through our lifetimes.
Israel is a piece of a shit country. End of story. The United States is a piece of shit. We support the blockading of a whole ethnicity, refuse to allow supplies in, refuse students the ability to go to school, starve their people, and then they fire crappy rockets into loosely populated areas of Israel, killing perhaps one person in months, and then Israel goes and kills over 300 people because they elected a government that Israel did not like. This is a travesty. I am sick and tired of Israel dictating American policy, we need to wake up and overthrow our government, things are already going to far.
Wake up people the NWO is real, anyone who does not see that is a complete fool. They control our country and just about everywhere else. You can ignore all the signs you want, but you are signing your own death warrant.
Max,
The topic is complicated but your diatribe is unwarranted.
While our side is worthy of criticism your one sided viewpoint proves you to be unreasonable on this issue in my opinion.
I know I am being a dick, but I just found out my two best friends were killed by a drunk driver, but just the same…
Your a fool, maybe not stupid, but your a fool because you believe most of what the media feeds you. This country is controlled by a cabal of international bankers who control most of the world. They are moving us towards one world government and they do not care who they kill to achieve their goals. Israel has oppressed the Gazans’ in unimaginable ways. Hamas was legitimately elected and we refuse to talk to them. If you cannot see America’s and Israel’s hypocrisy then you are truly blinded. We only accept democracy when its people we like getting elected. America has fucked this world over and a big part of the world hates us. How can we kill them for reacting to our evils? It is just wrong.
I agree that violence in Palestine/Israel would decrease if more Palestinians had jobs and were making money; that’s how Northern Ireland became peaceful. Once everyone had jobs, they stopped fighting because even though there are those who fight for the cause, many do so because it’s their only option.
The problem with the “improve the economy” argument however, is that it’s a chicken and egg problem. You need security for economic development to occur – protection of your life and property. But you’re not going to get lasting security until economic development occurs. It is a very difficult cycle to break. If you were going to go build a factory somewhere, would you chose Palestine as the location to build it? The whole situation is a just a mess. And as long as both sides want the same spot on the same hill in Jerusalem, the hardliners on both sides will never back down and will always try to enlist others as they have little other options.
Max,
Maybe I am a fool.
I try to understand everyone’s viewpoint based upon personal experiences. However sometimes the person’s experiences are so immediate they overwhelm every other issue.
If you have a problem with drunk driving get involved in MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) for example but please do not attempt to bleed your personal experiences into issues unrelated.
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