Posts
Our foreign policy wizards are all convinced that a peace
agreement between Israel and the Palestinians would be wondrous to behold. They
also believe that the Israelis need to do more, to go the extra mile, to make
it happen.
Unfortunately, reality tells a different story.
Look at what happened when UNICEF set out to find a company
that could build a desalination plant in Gaza.
90% of the water in Gaza is polluted. Thus, building a water
treatment plant is a matter of some urgency.
No Palestinian company knows how to do this, but UNICEF discovered
a world-leader in the business, an Israeli company that could have been brought in to build the plant.
Here is what happened, reported by Evelyn Gordon:
At that
point, all hell broke loose. Gaza’s elected Hamas government announced that no
Israeli would be allowed to set foot in Gaza. The Palestinian Contractors Union
condemned UNICEF, announced a boycott of the agency and warned fellow
Palestinians against cooperating with Israeli bidders. Other Palestinian groups
threatened to stage protests against UNICEF and shut down its offices.
In
other words, the Hamas government, the contractors union and other Palestinian
civil-society groups all decided that letting their fellow Palestinians
continue to drink polluted water was better than allowing an Israeli firm to
win the contract. They would rather do without the plant than give any business
to Israelis.
Gordon continues:
Having
it built by a company based farther away would probably take longer and cost
more, but the Palestinians don’t care: They’ve already made it clear that
depriving Israeli firms of business takes precedence over clean drinking water
for their people, and as for cost, the international community is picking up
the tab anyway.
But
regardless of what happens to this particular project, the lesson is clear:
Faced with a choice between promoting their people’s welfare and harming
Israel, both the elected Palestinian government and civil-society leaders
unhesitatingly chose the latter. And until Palestinians reverse this order of
priorities, peace will continue to be impossible.
One can only wonder why the “international community”
continues to finance this raw hatred. Those who do so are directly responsible for Palestinian intransigence.
As for the chances for peace between the Israelis and the
Palestinians, Gordon is right: it is currently and for the foreseeable future
impossible.
2 comments:
Shows the intrinsic difference in our cultural beliefs and perspective. To the Palestinians, it's the Israeli's, the Jews, who are unclean. That, to them, is the bigger filth. And whether there are those who want to acknowledgeit or not, it is based, not just in their history, but in their religion. It's deeply ingrained belief system that's intertwined in their lives in a way Western thought and religion isn't.
Not sure if I made any sense there.
the international community is picking up the tab anyway
Instant gratification through involuntary exploitation (i.e. redistributive change) predictably breeds corruption. International welfare programs are no less vulnerable than their local or national counterparts.
Of course, as Katielee4211 notices, it is important to address the ego of Arabs and Muslims who occupied that land for over 1000 years. Still, I would guess that is a minor consideration, at least for normal people, and the principal concern of their leaders and activists is consolidation of wealth and power.
Post a Comment