I'm not sure what point your trying to make here? No other refugees have a yearly budget of $1,000,000,000.00/year assigned to them. Really, all the Jewish people that lived in Arab nations before 1948 still have all the property that they had before the Arab-Israeli war in those countries and still live there? You could say the same thing about the refugees in Gaza, they elected to move.... or any refugee for that matter. Yeah... I missed that one by about three zeros but $1,000,000,000.00+/year is a LOT of free money that no other refugees are getting. We all know what a refuge is... what is the definition of a refugee? Not according to these sites... New York city is 3 x more dense than Gaza. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density
The problem with the population density in Gaza is that they don't really make anything for themselves, and they can't produce enough food for themselves with that many people. Having a city with a population like that is fine if you have other parts of the country producing food and the city making money. If the city does nothing and there is no other part of the country to produce food, you get people starving, which is exactly what would happen if they weren't almost completely funded by outside aid.
You should compare the slums in places like Rio in Brazil to Gaza and ask who needs that $1,000,000,000.00 per year.
That's the official Israeli narrative, and it was never challenged until the New Historians, notably Benny Morris. Many of those who left in the 1948 war were said to either have left hoping to come back after an Arab victory, or left with no thought of returning, and historians in the late 80s and early 90s unearthed declassified army documents to show that in many cases, Arabs were forced out of whole areas that became claimed by Israelis after the war. And despite the claim that the New Historians are somehow a Fifth column of self-loathing Jews, they run the gambit within the political spectrum -- they are historians, not politicians. Many powers that be insist on keeping the history white-washed ,and engage in a game of "attack the messenger" even to the extent of trying to pass laws to make it illegal to claim that any Palestinians were forced off their land in 1948 and to impose fines or censorship of professors or writers that provide evidence to the contrary. It's incredibly totalitarian and the Likudniks who woo Congress seem very tone deaf to this. The surrounding states still have multi-generational Palestinian refugees and treat them like dirt. It's reason enough to understand the Palestinian demand for recognition of peoplehood and statehood. There are no white knights here. There's no doubt that Palestinians are pawns for ME politicians, and are cynically exploited for political reasons by everyone there, but Israel is a lot more "Judeo" than it is Christian, and what is Christian is Arab. It's also not nearly as "Western" as it's western advocates would have you believe. It's very much a middle-eastern country with all the superstition and corruption that implies -- certainly less than its neighbors, but that's not much to be proud of. Jews of Middle-Eastern descent (not all Arab, there are plenty Persian Jews too) comprise more than half the Jewish population of Israel (like my ex-wife - Dad is from Cairo, mom from Baghdad, grand-parents still speak Arabic ). They aren't refugees, as they aren't stateless. They hold Israeli passports. Palestinians are largely stateless unpersons unless they were lucky enough to immigrate to the West, or were originally from the Israeli side of the Green Line (and are actual Israeli citizens unlike their brethren in the West Bank and gaza Strip). They've been discriminated against since the country absorbed them in the 50s, and they have traditionally been right-wing voters because the traditional left is the one most associated with European Jewry and western culture. It's because of this slight that Likud came into power under Begin in the late 70s and has won most elections since. But they did flee the places they were from and their assets were taken (with the exception of Morocco I believe, which still has decent relations with Israel). They have no ancestors from Europe, have no ties to the Holocaust, have no western or democratic traditions, and culturally have more in common with Palestinians, but are the most outwardly racist toward them. This is a large part of why I say Israel is less "western" than you think. I suspect most Americans wouldn't know a Mizrachi Israeli from a Palestinian if they were to converse in English. It's also worth mentioning that the stickiest bit in any peace negotiation is the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees, a topic that is long and headache worthy of it's own. This is the main blocker in the whole cluser****. Gaza is essentially a giant prison. Hamas can take the blame for much of it being so, but Egypt and Israel treat it as a problem to be cynically managed rather than fixed. It's telling when even the president pleas with the Knesset on humanitarian grounds to allow it to open and operate their own seaport (which Israel forces closed) and provide it with more water. That it has less density than any place is a meaningless thing to say when it's economically isolated and dependant on Israel for power and water and unable to have any kind of self-sufficiency. In short, Okierock, you are restating the same "official" version of history I learned, and it's certainly better informed than the average person, for sure, but living there a decade and studying in grad school certainly challenged many of these "official" histories. There are two nationalistic narratives by Israelis and Palestinians that are hammered into kids now for generations, but like many national narratives, are often myths. Many younger Israelis and Palestinians assume a future bi-national state is in the picture, but it (or any kind of real peace), or won't happen with the current generation of leadership that rely on conflict with the other to remain in power.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Hamas spends it on. The goodwill of many is constantly undermined by those cats who do **** like this.
I don't think you are understanding what I'm saying here. Gaza produces nothing. Nothing for themselves, nothing for anyone else.....other than maybe terrorism. Given that is the only thing they produce, their neighbors don't exactly want to let them move freely through their countries so they are stuck there, not producing anything that matters, with no money and no food and no way to produce enough food for the population even if they made that a priority.....which they wouldn't. Brazil is a corrupt country that has the means to provide for their people, they just do a terrible job of it. It's corrupt + means to provide for themselves vs corrupt + no means to provide for themselves. Certainly the Rio slums are more miserable than Gaza, but that's not the point. Cut off outside funding to Gaza and the people starve to death till they reach a sustainable population and there's nothing they could do about it. Cut off aid to Brazil and you probably have the same thing start to happen, but given that they are capable of more, you might get change.
That's what happens when people elect a terrorist government.....and it's not just Israel, Egypt did the same. That said, it's not like they had much of an economy before that.....and they aren't doing any better now that the blockades have been eased. There basically isn't an economy to be hurt or helped.....turns out terrorist governments aren't the best. Maybe they'll learn their lesson and do better in the future.
the only way this get solved is for one side to be relocated to some where else, like a part of Africa or maybe New Zealand for example. Either that or one side completely destroy the other side. Since Israel is in power, it would be much easier if Palestinians can agree to be relocated else where. This is not just or right but it is the best solution, so US, EU should come up with a plan and money to relocate one side.
Actually they did have an economy - it was quick vibrant once and was a bigger trading center than Jerusalem. Israel's blockade did tremendous damage to the economy - 90% of the factories in Gaza closed as a result. To say there was nothing before that is not true.
The funding is the only reason the problem still exists. It is a cruel thing but it is the truth none the less.
In Gaza City, not Jerusalem, which is almost exclusively tourism, Hebrew University and government offices generating income.
hmm >>>>> . <<<< this was my point what the Palestinian people receive to feed /shelter is less than 10% of Israel military aid from the US alone Yemen , Algeria , Morocco =yes Iraq =yes until late 90s Iran =they are treated like 2nd citizen, Kurd, Arab,Balosh etc are like 4th,5th class i am aware that you are struggling with how many digit should you type.. but its barely sufficient . 15$ * 5,000,000 person = 75 million/month or 900 millions a year notice above :15$ as a monthly salary. if you add a 1 $ more ,you ran into deficit Jordan , Lebanon living expenses is higher than the US you asked , you got an answer, my work is under appreciated here ! 1st time you said Washington DC, now NYC ? Gaza is 6th ranked globally , but without access or norm. circumstances , the 5 location ahead of Gaza are not under siege if you like the Palestinian situation , we can replicate it for you own joy: if you own a house , i can offer you this :50$ monthly under one condition: you stay away in slump 4ever, enjoy UN t-shirt and hats , and don't think of digging a tunnel!!that may endanger my sovereignty at my own(your x-house)
This is the same offer that all the countries that forced the Jews out gave them minus the $50 and UN t-shirts and hats... There is nothing special about the plight of these refugees in terms of history, the only thing special is that they have accepted their roll as political pawns and the support of governments to maintain that roll for decades and generations. Think of all the children and generations of families that could have moved on and done some good in this world or acknowledged the Jewish state and stayed and done some good in Israel. Every month they take that money they are saying (I am willing to sacrifice my life and my family for governments that could care less if I or my family live or die).
So basically everything is still the law of the jungle, the strong will get its way and the weak just have to take it. What is not to say several hundred years from now or maybe couple thousands years from now the Jews gets chased out of Israel again by the super power at that time? What if some aliens from space decide to give back the US to the Indians again? The Arabs did not learn the lesson they need to learn from all this, it is the weak have little to no rights, if you want rights, you have to be strong. Instead of trying to get stronger by embracing education and science like the Jews have done, they are trying to embrace out dated religious doctrines even more, what a pity for them.
The only reason there is any economy left in Gaza and not mass starvation is because of foreign investment. Israel has blockaded them so they can't export anything. The tunnels to Egypt used to be for getting goods in and circumventing the blockade, they were later used for arms. You starve an entire people with mass punishment, and surprise surprise they are going to hate you.
