Posted on 07/30/2012 9:39:50 AM PDT by reaganaut1
...
Speaking to roughly four dozen donors at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Mr. Romney suggested that cultural differences between the Israelis and the Palestinians were the reason the Israelis were so much more economically successful than the Palestinians. He also vastly understated the income disparities between the two groups.
In his speech, Mr. Romney mentioned two books that had influenced his thinking about nations — “Guns, Germs and Steel,” by Jared Diamond, and “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations,” by David S. Landes. Mr. Diamond’s book, Mr. Romney said, argues that the physical characteristics of the land account for the success of the people living there, while Mr. Landes’s book, he continued, argues that culture is the defining factor.
“Culture makes all the difference,” Mr. Romney said. “And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things.”
“As you come here and you see the G.D.P. per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000, and compare that with the G.D.P. per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” he said.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, called Mr. Romney’s remarks “racist.”
“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Mr. Erekat said. “It seems to me this man lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
‘Palestinian’ contributions:
Hijacking
Suicide vests.
Bus bombings
Idiots like the Palistineans and the American Democraps love to wield the race card.
But in many cases it’s not about RACISM - it’s about CULTURALISM.
For example, I don’t happen to be racist against American blacks and treat them the same as anyone else when I meet them. HOWEVER, there are many things I truly despise about American Black CULTURE (Hateful rap music, deadbeat dads, violence, racial snobbery and victimhood hand in hand).
And laziness. Yes, laziness. When I see how hard other minorities work, like Mexican laborers here in California and then you see an inner city Black punk, sayin’ “I can’t get me no job.” In general American blacks have a culture of entitlement and that entitlement has bred a culture of abject laziness.
So people can call me a “CULTURIST,” but not a “RACIST.”
It’s important for conservatives to change the language of debate and this concept of apologetically stating, I’m not racist, I’m culturist” - will be effective.
Even if the Arabs imposed their language, it doesn't necessarily involve a large influx of people from Arabia--compare how the Spanish language took hold in parts of Latin America where the Spanish colonists were outnumbered by the indigenous population.
So DNA studies should show some kinship between Israeli Jews and at least some of the Palestinian Arabs.
A Jewish girl who had lived there told me as much.
She said, “It’s ridiculous, we’re all Palestinians...it’s a place.”
Yassar Arafat was an Egyptian.
Arafat was born in Cairo but at least according to Wikipedia, his father was from Gaza and his mother from Jerusalem and he spent part of his childhood in Jerusalem with members of her family. His father’s mother was Egyptian.
How we got here....http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-really-happened.html
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