Posted on 05/16/2006 6:34:58 PM PDT by Alouette
Providing "humanitarian" aid to palestinian terrorists is like pouring blood into a school of sharks where beach goers are swimming nearby...
---------------------------
Why exactly is the West responsible for the bloated PA bureaucracy? After all, all these a$$ clowns do is plot to kill us and celebrate after each terrorst attack (remember the joy in the PA after 9/11?-- I do). If we had any cohones, we'd let 'em starve. Of course, I fully expect President Gee Whiz Resolve to cave any day now.
Well, somebody there is making a buttload on flammable flags.
Murderer/Beggar is a tough occupation.
Boo hoo (not!). These murderers apparently have enough money to buy guns.
Maybe they should ask Arab-Fat's widow for some of the money he stole from them & hid away.
"The arrogrance of the west" How about the arrogance of thinking you have a right to a handout.
Hey palis, starve.
Yep, Abbas should go to Riyadh, kuffiyeh in hand and beg for alms from the king.
Let them reap the whirlwind. They produce nothing, do nothing but support the killing of innocent Israelis, and achieve nothing. Hence, the best jobs for them is fertilizer. They have a right to return to the dust beneath them. The only ones with steady income coming in, are the ones who cross over into Israel to work. Headache Guy says it all--profoundly.
Biting the hand that feeds you results in starvation. Palistians are really stupid.
What needs to happen is to let it collapse, and FORCE these people to create a private sector that actually MAKES something
The west accepted the outcome of their democratic vote. But the west has no obligation to subsidize their intransigence. They cannot have their cake and eat it too. The money given to the PA comes with conditions of the PA being a responsible government, but even then it is apparant that it has been too much. Western aid makes up 1/3 of the overall economy. That is too much dependency and only makes the west enablers of their dysfunction.
They need to organize themselves and develop their own stability, from which a natural economy can grow and become less dependent on foreign aid.
$300 billion? I doubt that. Estimates vary from $1 billion to $5 billion. In the 1970's and 1980's they made a lot of money from extortion, theft, arms dealing, drug dealing. They robbed a bank in Lebanon and got away with a small fortune. They extorted tens of millions from Lufthansa. Rumor has it that Arafat owned the majority stake in the Papau New Guinea airlines.
You are correct, but there are several stumbling blocks. The first and most obvious is that no outsiders are going to invest in Gaza while it is at war with Israel and itself. They will never attract capital other than grants and aid, so there can be no private sector economic development.
A second problem is the uncertainty of how they will manage a private sector economy. For example, even if they did "make peace" if they turn to sharia law there will be no economic incentive for foreign capital because women won't be allowed to drive or eat out with others, locals can't go to bars, and heck, no tourists will go to a place where there are no bars, no women, no good entertainment, no attractions, and the threat of death if you happen to violate some arcane law you aren't aware of (i.e. talking to a woman on the street).
A third problem is the corruption, but this is also mired in a clannish society. There are strong clannish ties - some heavily armed clans - that control everything within a number of city blocks. But if you pay them off, you still need to pay off everyone en route to your "safe zone" or else you can't get to your investment.
When President Bush demanded an end to violence, financial transparancy and the implementation of democratic principles he was 100% correct, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. There is no civilian oversight over the police force - heck, there are already like a dozen different police forces. There isn't a well functioning judicial system... if a clan member is arrested for a crime his clan buddies will burst into court, guns ablazing, and "liberate" him. Lawyers and judges are blackmailed or threatened.
They are so indoctrinated against Israel they cannot see how Israel can benefit them in so many ways. Israel would be their most natural ally, their biggest trading partner, one of the biggest employers, and has decades of experience in running a functional, capitalist democracy from which they can model their own country/society. Sure Israel isn't perfect and the Palestinians aren't Jews, there are cultural differences that will require alterations but there are several principles they must hold sacrosanct in order to succeed.
The only theocracies/dictatorships that are successful in the world are those that have tremendous natural resources like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, even perhaps Iran to a degree. The Palestinians don't have natural resources to live on, so they have no choice but to develop a skilled workforce and exploit (in the good sense) what they do have. They have access to the sea to develop fisheries, ports of trade, and seaside tourist resorts. They have farmland and can export exotic fruits, vegetables and flowers to Europe. In conjunction with Israel/Jordan/Iraq they could develop a trade route to bypass the Suez (which is too small anyway) from Europe to the far east.
But so long as the lust to "avenge" their myths of past "loss" persist they are sacrificing their present and their future. And to think, Clinton put $30 billion in economic incentive on the table if Arafat would have accepted the Clinton plan (97% of the West Bank/Gaza, land swaps, share of Jerusalem). Imagine what it would be like today if they had accepted that deal 6 years ago. No Palestinian media will put that into perspective. I believe in fact the proposal never got to the Palestinian people - their media kept it from them (controlled by the PA of course). If they had the chance to know about the offer they might have risen to demand acceptance of it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.