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NOTE: I deliberately place the word “Palestinian” in italics. I do this because Palestinian
correctly refers to anything and anyone in or from the former British Mandate of Palestine - including Jews,
Arabs, Druze, Circassians and all others from there. “Palestinian” specifically refers to the current Arab
population of Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.
The material presented in this article is drawn from the dozen or so sources listed
at the end of this article. What is presented here are a number of facts concerning Israeli achievements in
the more than 70 years since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Today Israel is a modern
prosperous nation. The so called “Palestinians” could have achieved a similar status had they only accepted
Israel as a neighbor and friend. Instead, the “Palestinians” have suffered a 70-year self-imposed martyrdom
and they live in isolation and misery. Just imagine what could have been if the so-called “Palestinians” had
made peace with Israel 70 Years Ago and joined with them to make the former Mandate of Palestine into a true
Land of Milk and Honey for all its residents. Look at what Germany and Japan have become since
agreeing to peace with the allies after World War II. Where would the “Palestinians” be today if they had
agreed to a similar peace arrangement in 1948?
TECHNOLOGY
Israel is an unquestioned world leader in technology. Imagine the benefits that
could have accrued to the Arab residents in Gaza, Samaria and Judea if they had opted to share in the
benefits of Israel’s high-tech leadership – high quality jobs, foreign investment, income, high-tech
education, international prestige, and more.
Throughout Israel’s history, Israeli doctors, scientists and researchers have
produced countless medical advances.
Israeli High-Tech Developments Are Used Around the World.
Israel’s high-tech civil innovations have left an important mark on homes,
offices and businesses around the world.
Israel Contributes to a Cleaner World.
In an era of booming populations, shrinking resources and environmental
degradation, Israel leads the world in such critical fields as solar power generation and seawater
desalination. As nations struggle to make the best use of their resources, Israel’s cutting-edge
technologies promise to improve the health and living standards of hundreds of millions across the
globe, while making industry more efficient and minimizing the environmental impact of human
activities.
“Palestinians” in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip have wasted the
opportunity to benefit from these numerous Israeli technological achievements of the past 7 decades.
EMPLOYMENT
The unemployment rate of “Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip, Samaria and Judea,
particularly among the young, is unsustainably low. The problem in Gaza is particularly acute.
The basic cause of the unemployment crisis is self-inflicted. Continuous terror attacks on Israeli
civilians have forced Israel to restrict travel between Israel proper and the territories of Gaza,
Samaria and Judea. The border wall is one manifestation. Others are the establishment of check points
and the restricted access from the Mediterranean.
Scientists in Israel, found that the brackish water, drilled from underground
desert aquifers, hundreds of feet deep, could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water,
less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98 degrees on average,
proves an ideal environment. As a result, fish farming in Israel is income and job producing. The same
technology could have been utilized in Gaza, Samaria and Judea to create much-needed employment
opportunities for the “Palestinians” living there, as well as giving a boost to the “Palstinian”
economy.
Consider the story of SodaStream, a successful Israeli enterprise
that attempted to improve the lives of “Palestinians” living in the Judea-Samaria region of Palestine.
SodaStream International Ltd. is an Israel-based manufacturing company best
known as the maker of the consumer home carbonation product of the same name. The device, like a soda
syphon, carbonates water by adding carbon dioxide from a pressurized cylinder to create soda water (or
carbonated water) to drink. The company also sells more than 100 types of concentrated syrups and
flavorings to make carbonated drinks.
SodaStream is headquartered in Lod, Israel and has 13 production plants.
Until 2015 its principal manufacturing facility was located in the West Bank. This created controversy
and a boycott campaign. In October 2015, under pressure from BDS activists, SodaStream closed its
factory in the West Bank, and moved to a new facility in southern Israel. As a result of the boycott
campaign by do-gooders, supposedly supporting the “Palestinians”, SodaStream was forced to lay off more
than 500 “Palestinian” workers. So much for aiding the “Palestinian” economy. Hatred of Jews and Israel
takes precedence over helping “Palestinians”.
But SodaStream worked to get work permits for some 74 of its “Palestinian”
employees in its new plant who had lost their jobs when the company shut its West Bank plant in the
face of the anti-Israel international pressure.
While the work permits allowed some 74 “Palestinians” to provide for their
families and also to prove that coexistence is possible, the anti-Israel program that forced the closing
of the SodaStream plant in the West Bank, deprived over 400 other “Palestinians” of badly needed employment
and discouraged future cooperative efforts between Israelis and “Palestinians” that could have contributed
to bringing peace, employment and prosperity to the region.
In spite of the pressure form BDS-supporters and opponents of Israel, SodaStream
now has more than 1,400 employees in the industrial park in southern Israel, one-third of them Bedouin
Arabs from the surrounding area. Meanwhile, “Palestinians” in the West Bank continue to suffer from major
unemployment.
Employment opportunities within Gaza, Judea and Samaria are few and far between
because of the inept leadership of Hamas in Gaza and Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in
Judea and Samaria. These leaders have made destroying Israel their number one objective rather than
bettering the lives of the Arab populations of these areas. At the same time, the acts of terrorism
emanating from Gaza and the West Bank have forced Israel to restrict employment in Israel for Arabs from
Gaza and the West Bank – a double whammy.
Peaceful cooperation with Israel over the last 70 years could have produced
massive employment opportunities in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, along with high-paying job opportunities
in Israel. To avoid the terrorism imported from Gaza and the West Bank, Israel today brings in labor
from countries like China, the Philippines and Thailand – jobs that could have gone to
“Palestinians.”
AGRICULTURE
Israeli agriculture ranks among world’s most technologically advanced, particularly
in the area of agriculture of regions with low annual rainfall. Agricultural research in Israel is based on
close cooperation and interaction between scientists, consultants, farmers and agriculture-related industries.
Israel's semi-arid to arid climate and its previous shortage of high-quality water have been major constraints
facing Israeli agriculture. Through extensive greenhouse production, vegetables, fruits and flowers are
grown for export to the European markets during the winter off-season. The results from this leading
research could have immensely benefited the lives of the “Palestinians” living in Gaza, Samaria and Judea.
Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) helps the development of the Israeli agriculture by an
efficient use of the limited water resources, development of crops for export markets, ensuring a decent
income for the farming community, developing and adapting crops and technologies for newly settled regions
without polluting the environment. There are 6 institutes in the ARO: 2 devoted to plant and animal sciences
and 4 specializing in plant protection, soil, water and environmental sciences, technology & storage of
agricultural products and agricultural engineering.
The ARO has helped to turn Israel's “mixed farming” system into a highly
industrialized enterprise focused on export to Europe. Serious water shortages have led to the use of
low quality and recycled water. Some 44% of the water Israel uses for agriculture comes from
recycled water without lowering quality of the produce. In 1997, Israel’s agricultural exports
amounted to more than $1.3 billion - approximately 6.4% of the country's total exports.
In 2017, the ARO’s Volcani agricultural research center was among 3 winners
of the prestigious Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, awarded by
UNESCO. In awarding the prize, UNESCO said the Volcani Center “has successfully developed cutting-edge
innovations and methodologies in agricultural research with practical applications as well as
capacity-building programs to promote food security in arid, semi-arid and desert environments,
advancing human well-being.” The Volcani Center’s work contributed not just to science, agriculture
and the environment, but also to regional and international cooperation that helped to ensure food
security for present and future generations. The award spotlighted Israel’s wide-ranging agricultural
advances, which it regularly shares with the rest of the world.
Imagine what could have been had the Arabs in Gaza, Samaria and Judea made
use of this world class resource to develop their own agricultural industry. In Israel, the phrase,
“making the desert bloom” is a reality, not a dream. And, Israel has gladly shared
with the rest of the world its experience, innovations and achievements in making the desert bloom.
Blinded by their hatred of the Jewish state, the “Palstinian” fanatics have refused to accept the fruits
of Israel’s agricultural achievements. Instead of having to import agricultural labor from the far east,
Israel could be employing Arab workers from Gaza, Samaria and Judea where real unemployment rates
exceed 50%. By peacefully cooperating with Israel, the “Palestinians” could have had a thriving
agricultural industry of their own.
Agriculture could easily be an important key to strengthening Gaza’s shattered
economy. Labor-intensive arming would decrease the widespread unemployment there significantly. But, the
inescapable fact remains that constant Hamas-led attacks on Israel result in restrictions on
imports and exports into and out of Gaza that severely constrain the growth of Gaza’s agricultural
industry!
As a result, the agricultural sector in Gaza constitutes a relatively small part
of its economy, only 7 to 8 percent. However, agricultural products make up 85% of the exports from Gaza.
At least 30,000 Gazans formally work in agriculture, in addition to many informal workers, including day
laborers. Because it requires a large number of workers, agriculture could have a big impact on the Gazan
economy, where nearly 80% of Gaza’s population receives some kind of social assistance and nearly 40%
falls below the poverty line. At the end of 2014, the Gaza unemployment rate stood at 43%, one of the
highest in the world.
Clearly, “The agriculture sector is a powerful example of how cooperation between
“Palestinians” and Israel could benefit “Palestinians” in Gaza and provide real economic possibilities in
the midst of hardship. Unfortunately, until Hamas is driven out of Gaza, such cooperation is but another
unfulfilled wish – another wasted opportunity.
Israel’s advanced agricultural technology could have been used over the past
decades to train Gazan farmers to get higher yields from their land. They could have benefitted from
Israel’s highly successful use of greenhouses (and replaced the ones they vandalized and destroyed when
Israel left Gaza). They could have implemented improved irrigation techniques, and raised bed agriculture
to grow agricultural products like strawberries that hang in the air instead of resting on the ground –
as is done in Israel.
Israel’s technology is making the desert bloom, greening the earth, cleaning
water and air, and providing clean energy. The Negev desert now produces flowers for export to Europe,
including tulips to the Netherlands!
Drought-tolerant crops thrive in the hot desert sun. Fed with brackish or
low-quality water, algae grows a high-value product on seemingly valueless land.
Israel’s Desalination Engineering is a world leader in thermal desalination
and water treatment technology and has installed hundreds of plants in over 40 countries. IDE Americas
Inc., a subsidiary of Israel’s IDE Technologies Ltd, is currently designing a desalination plant in San
Diego California, the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere.
Agtech has a product that mixes with pesticides and herbicides to keep them
from contaminating groundwater.
Drip irrigation was invented in Israel.
The lucrative tropical fish-growing industry in the Negev
Desert is one of the best places to harvest tropical fish and marine plants for export.
Because Israel is 60 percent desert, its farmers and agricultural scientists
have long focused on expanding both the yield and quality of crops, as well as making agriculture more
efficient overall.
Drip irrigation has become popular with fruit and vegetable growers in dry
weather areas, from Southern California to the Middle East. The world’s first surface drip irrigation
system was developed in the 1960s at Kibbutz Hatzerim near Beersheba. Similarly, Israeli scientists have
developed genetically modified, disease-resistant bananas, peppers and other crops that are expanding the
world’s food supply and helping to keep prices down at grocery stores around the globe.
The dual self-inflicted problems of shortages of water and electricity constrain
Gaza’s agriculture. The cost of extracting water from wells is high and there is only 8 hours a day of
electricity in Gaza - and, one never knows when those 8 hours are going to come. Another agricultural problem
is that special permission is required to import commercial fertilizers into Gaza, because Hamas and other
terrorist organizations there use the nitrates in the fertilizer to make explosives.
WATER
In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturalists
some time ago developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used to
grow crops. Decades ago, “Palestinian” farmers could have begun to benefit from the use of this Israeli
developed technology and from all the other innovative Israeli agricultural technological advancements.
Israel has solved its water shortage problem. Gaza, along with Samaria and Judea
(the “West Bank”) have a persistent water problem that Israeli technology and investment could have easily
solved.
For years, Gaza has been illegally drilling wells and over-pumping its aquifers,
causing seawater to seep into the groundwater and salinity levels to rise. 97% of Gaza’s water has not
been potable. At the beginning of 2017, a small-scale desalination plant was opened in the Gaza Strip,
bringing some relief to a territory where 97% of the water was undrinkable. While this will not solve
Gaza’s water woes, it marked one small step. The plant was to initially produce 6,000 cubic meters of
water a day, a small fraction of Gaza’s needs. In all, the population uses 150,000 cubic meters a day,
most of it from its depleted coastal aquifer.
The European Union (EU) had invested $10.6 million in building the plant with
UNICEF and pledged a similar amount for a second phase meant to double capacity by 2019. Tellingly,
Hamas, the Islamic terror group that controls Gaza, did not participate in the project.
Conditions had greatly deteriorated since Hamas, sworn to Israel’s destruction,
took power. Hamas and Israel have fought innumerable wars since the 2007 takeover, resulting in heavy
damage to Gaza’s infrastructure. Similarly, Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalist organizations have
been at war with Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula, necessitating an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has
slowed all construction efforts in the Gaza Strip, including the much-needed potable water producing
infrastructure.
With respect to the water shortages in Samaria and Judea, The Oslo agreements
granted the “Palestinians” the right to draw 70 million cubic meters from the Eastern Mountain Aquifer
(ground water reservoir). But, as of 2014, this water resource was not utilized to the extent permitted.
As per the Israeli-“Palestinian” agreement, some 40 sites were identified for drilling into this aquifer
in the eastern Hebron hills region, and permits were granted to the “Palstinians”. But, the “Palstinians”
had drilled at just 1/3 of these sites, despite the fact that the international community had offered to
finance the drilling of all sites. If the “Palestinians” were to drill and develop all these wells, they
could have completely ended their water shortage in the Hebron hills region. But the “Palestinians”
preferred to drill wells on the Western Mountain Aquifer, the basin that provides groundwater to the
State of Israel. Instead of solving the problem they chose to squabble with Israel. Compounding the
problem has been the fact that the “Palestinians” haven’t bothered to eliminate water leaks in city pipes -
up to 33% of water in “Palestinian” cities has been wasted through leakage.
The “Palestinians” have refused to build water treatment plants, despite
their obligation to do so under the Oslo agreement. Sewage flows out of “Palestinian” towns and
villages directly into local streams, thereby polluting the environments and the aquifer and causing
the spread of disease. Despite the fact that donor countries have been willing to fully fund the
building of treatment plants, the “Palestinians” have managed to avoid their obligations to build
such facilities.
Some “Palestinian” farmers irrigate their fields by flooding, rather than with
drip irrigation technology. Drip irrigation, as practiced in Israel, brings water directly to the root
of each plant, thereby reducing water consumption by more than 50%. Flooding fields causes huge water
evaporation and leads to great waste. Also, “Palestinians” absolutely refuse to irrigate their agricultural
fields with treated sewage effluents. By comparison, more than half the agricultural fields in Israel
are irrigated with treated waste-water. Irrigating “Palestinian” agricultural fields with recycled water
instead of fresh water would free up large amounts of water for home usage. This would greatly reduce
the water shortage in many places.
For the past 7 decades, there has been no real “Palestinian” desire to solve
their water problems. Instead, they prefer to perpetuate their existing water problems in order to claim to be
victims and to blame the State of Israel for all their self-imposed woes.
ENERGY
In Gaza, there are chronic electricity shortages, primarily as the result of
fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli is among the world’s leaders in the development and use of solar energy.
Gaza has a major recurrent energy shortage problem which they could have avoided through peaceful
cooperation with Israel. The energy of the sun is as abundant in the Gaza Strip as it is in in Israel’s
Negev region. Here again, hatred of the “Zionist entity” trumps simple survival and economic growth in
the sick minds of the Hamas terrorists.
OFFSHORE ASSETS
Gaza’s Mediterranean offshore waters could have provided a booming fishing
industry to feed the Arab population in Gaza, Samaria and Judea, along with a seaside tourist industry
that would bring in money and provided jobs for the local population. Instead, the Hamas leadership has
used funds intended for infrastructure development to build terror tunnels, to enrich themselves and to
finance its ongoing war with Israel. As a result, the waters off the coast of Gaza are an environmental
disaster, filled with raw sewage and untreated runoff.
In contrast, the waters off Israel’s shores are relatively clean and
unpolluted. Here again, the “Palestinian” fanatics’ blind hatred of Jews and Israel, coupled with
an inherent affinity for martyrdom and the insatiable need to be perceived as a victim and to garner
sympathy for their self-inflicted predicament has led to the current state of affairs off Gaza’s coast.
Hamas’ refusal to allow any aid from Israel in the form of technological know-how has been one of the
main contributors to deplorable condition of Gaza’s coastal waters. With Israeli cooperation, the
beaches of Gaza could have been as inviting as the beaches of Eilat and Tel-Aviv, its drinking water
supply clean and abundant, and its fishing industry a job creator and a money-maker.
HEALTH CARE
Health care in Israel is both universal and compulsory, and is administered by
a small number of organizations with funding from the government. All Israeli citizens are entitled to
the same Uniform Benefits Package, regardless of which organization they are a member of, and treatment
under this package is funded for all citizens regardless of their financial means. According to a 2000
study by the World Health Organization, Israel has the 28th best health care in the world. Israeli
hospitals and its medical training facilities are among the best in the world and undeniably the best
in the Middle East. Similar claims for health care in Arab-controlled Areas of Gaza, Samaria and Judea
cannot be made.
Under the autonomous “Palestinian” National Authority (PNA), which is
supposed to provide governmental control to the “Palestinians” in Gaza, Samaria and Judea, the
Ministry of Health (MOH) provides health services under its jurisdiction. However, since the
ascendancy of the Hamas government in Gaza, the PNA’s MOH no longer serves a governmental function
in Gaza healthcare, having been replaced by Hamas. The majority of funding for MOH service for
“Palstinians” comes from foreign aid and taxes.
Under the Oslo accords, responsibility for health care was transferred from
Israel to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Nonetheless, every year over 160,000 “Palestinians”
receive medical treatment in Israel. Even family members of Hamas have been treated in Israel. Clearly,
the “Palestinians” know that their care is inferior to that in Israel. It didn’t have to be
this way.
The “Palestinian” territories have approximately sixty hospitals and medical
centers within the region . . . However, the “Palestinians” lack a fundamental and substantive primary
care system that can reach out to the local population. Infrastructural challenges restrict the
movement of physicians and medical supplies, and lack of efficient logistics prevents a coordinated
effort by all healthcare service providers to provide the necessary primary care. According to the
World Bank, only 44% all “Palestinians” have access to "reasonable and customary" healthcare. This
leaves a startling 56% of the population with little or no access to healthcare. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), the residents of Gaza are in a particularly precarious position
given the actions of the Hamas government. Hamas’s frequent attacks on Israel have resulted in much
self-inflicted damage to the medical infrastructure in Gaza which cannot be readily repaired, partly
as a result of Hamas diverting construction material and funds to weapons procurement and terror tunnels.
According to the Israeli government, Israel has imposed no restrictions whatever on medical supplies
and equipment since 2010.
EDUCATION
During the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank, from 1948 to 1967, the
Jordanians forbade and prevented the establishment of any university in the West Bank. So, in 1967,
when Israel regained Judea and Samaria, there were no universities in the West Bank.
NOT ONE!
In 1970, soon after Israel took control of Judea and Samaria, Israel’s Deputy
Premier, who was then Minister of Education, announced that he had approved the establishment of the
first university in Ramallah in principle. Paradoxically, the Jordanians still attempted to prevent the
establishment of the first university on the West Bank. In April 1971, the Arab Mayor of Hebron needed
to warn the Jordanian government not to interfere with plans by West Bank Arab leaders to establish an
Arab university on the West Bank. The Jordanians charged that “all those who take part in planning the
university are traitors and collaborators with the Israelis.” However, under the Israeli administration,
in 1971 the foundation of the Hebron University was laid and forty-three students enrolled from different
parts of the West Bank and Gaza.
The universities in the West Bank enjoyed the cooperation of the Israeli
universities without which they could not have been developed. In 1973, it was reported that, since
the Israeli assumed control in Judea and Samaria, Arab education on the West Bank had expanded.
90 percent of children between 6-15 were receiving an elementary education, a much higher percentage
than under the Jordanian regime. Further, by 1973 the number of matriculants under Israeli administration
had risen from 3,500 to 14,500.
Thanks to Israel, a second university, Birzeit University, was established
in 1975. Under Israeli guidance, by 1993, when the Oslo Agreement establishing the Palestinian
Authority was signed, there were 14 universities, 18 colleges and 20 community colleges in the West Bank
and Gaza. Remember, that in 1967, there were no universities in the West Bank.
NOT ONE!
Current Palestinian higher education enrolment is 214,000, of which roughly
54 per cent are women and 46 per cent are men. This compares favorably with Israel’s higher education
enrollment, where, from a larger population, enrolment is approximately 307,000 and the gender balance
among undergraduates is 56 per cent women and 44 per cent men. The remarkably high participation rate
reflects both the commendable importance Palestinians attach to the universities (and formal education
more generally) for strengthening both their economy and their national identity.
An Najah National University of Bethlehem is ranked in 20th place of the top
300 ranked Arab universities and Birzeit university of Ramallah is in 27th place.
Israel is a highly educated nation. As the Israeli economy is largely
scientific and technological based, the labor market demands people who have achieved some form
of higher education, particularly related to science and engineering. In 2012, the country ranked
second among OECD countries for the percentage of 25 to 64-year-olds that have attained a college
education, with 46 percent compared with the OECD average of 32 percent. In addition, nearly twice
as many Israelis aged 55–64 held a higher education degree compared to other OECD countries, with
47 percent holding an academic degree compared with the OECD average of 25%. It ranks fifth among
OECD countries for the total expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP. As a
result, Israel has an education system that has helped transform the country and rapidly grow its
economy over the past 70 years.
The Israeli education system has been praised for various reasons,
including its high quality and its major role in spurring Israel's economic development and
technological boom. Many international business leaders and organizations such as Microsoft and
IBM have praised Israel for its high quality of education in helping spur Israel's economic
development. “Palestinians” could have similarly benefitted in the field of education from
cooperation with Israel over the past years.
ISRAEL’S SUPPORT TO JUDEA, SAMARIA AND GAZA
Since the “Palestinian” Authority (PA) and Israel signed the Oslo Accords in 1993,
Israel has been working with the PA to help develop a viable, even vibrant economy for the “Palestinians”
that provides jobs and support the infrastructure for viability. A strong economy is essential for stability
and, hopefully, will lead to the development of social and democratic institutions. Even during periods of
escalated violence against Israel, including Intifadas and rockets reigning down from Gaza deliberately
targeting civilians, Israel continued its efforts to improve the lives of the “Palestinians”.
Many of the things Israel does on a daily basis go without public notice, vastly
under-reported in the media. The hope is that prospects of a better future for the “Palestinians” will
enhance the chance for peace.
The Facts:
(1) In September 2012, with the “Palestinian” Authority (PA) facing severe financial strain due to a
shortfall in international donations and significant overspending, Israel advanced the PA 250 million
shekels in tax revenues to aid the “Palestinian” economy. Similarly, in July 2012, Israel advanced the
PA 180 million shekels to ensure that the salaries of PA employees were paid before the Muslim holiday
of Ramadan.
(2) Since the signing of the 1993 Oslo accord, real GDP per capita in the West Bank has increased
considerably. From 1998-2011, these numbers grew from about $1,750 to about $2,000 according to the
June 2012 U.S. congressional report U.S. Foreign Aid to the “Palestinians”. The report also notes that
Gaza experienced a considerable rise in real GDP per capita from 2002-2005 before the Hamas takeover.
(3) In order to reduce the level of “Palestinian” unemployment, Israel has increased the number of permits
for “Palestinians” to work in Israel - by 40% since February 2011.
(4) Despite the constant barrage of rocket attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip, Israel provides
most of the electric supply for both the West Bank and Gaza. Approximately half of Gaza’s electricity
is supplied directly from Israel by way of the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC). The remaining
supply comes mostly from the Gaza Power Plant (GPP), which is funded not by Hamas but by the
Palestinian Authority.
(6) In July 2012, Israel’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad,
discussed new measures designed to boost the “Palestinian” economy. These included developing the Gaza
Marine gas field which reportedly “could contribute dramatically to ‘Palestinian’ fiscal
sustainability.”
(6) During 2011 and the first half of 2012, Israel closely collaborated with the PA to improve the
“Palestinian” agriculture industry. This included projects to exterminate pests, improve soil quality,
and increase international trade of “Palestinian” agricultural goods.
The truth is that with the end of the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank, most
Arabs living there found a marked improvment in the quality of their lives after Israel took control. With
the arrival of the Israelis came a major uptick in the West Bank economy, greater access to clean running
water, the expanded availability of electricity, and greatly improved education. Infant mortality rates,
once among the highest in the world,
plummeted. Literacy rates, previously among the world's lowest, increased markedly. All this could have been
a harbinger of still better times, but radical Islam, the PLO and the pro-terrorist PA administration of
Mahmoud Abbas have seen to it that this type of progress was temporary.
IN SUMMARY
If the “Palestinians” had made peace with Israel 70 years ago, tens of thousands
of needless deaths and injuries could have been avoided. “Palestinians” could have been the major recipient
of Israeli technology,
agricultural know-how, education, off-shore resource development, along with access to plentiful supplies
of water and electricity. The “Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip could have avoided the destruction rained
down on them as a result of the bellicose behavior of the terrorist organization, Hamas, that controls the
lives of all those living there. The “Palestinians” in Judea and Samaria could have had a flourishing
economy without the oppressive Israeli check points necessitated by the PA incitements to and tolerance
of terror emanating from the Arab controlled portions of the region. In all likelihood, the “Palestinians”
could have even had an autonomous state deriving enormous benefits from an association with its nearest
neighbor, Israel.
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Bibliography:
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- Israel's Support of the “Palestinian” Economy, Antonio Planas, aish.com,
Accessed 11 April 2018.
- Israel’s Contributions to the World, Joe Fitzgerald,
Herald Magazine, September/October 2015.
- Israel’s Contributions to the World, Solve Israel’s Problems, 7 November 2011.
- Desalination plant opens to bring Gaza some relief, Fares Akram,The Times of Israel,
19 January 2017.
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israel/11174416/Hamas-leaders-daughter-treated-in-Israeli-hospital.html.
- The Truth Behind the “Palestinian” Water Libels, Prof. Haim Gvirtzman,
besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/truth-behind-palestinian-water-libels/,
24 February 2014.
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30 July 2017.
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17 May 2016.
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24 May 2017.
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Charles Abelsohn, The Times of Israel, 27 March 2017.
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