September 14, 2010, - 11:59 am
Blockade?: Israel, US Helped Gaza Economy Grow 16% in First Half of ’10; “West Bank,” Too
Anyone with even half a brain knew that the end-of-May Gaza flotilla melee was just about aiding HAMAS and hurting Israel. It wasn’t about the “economically depressed” or otherwise supposedly deprived Palestinian Muslims populating Gazastan.
Despite Palestinian Whines, Israel, US Helped HAMAS & Fatah Terrorists’ Economies Grow
And now the figures show as much, that the Palestinian economies are growing. The whole point of a blockade is to make bad people–bad countries with bad freely elected “leadership”–suffer. But apparently Gazans weren’t suffering at all. We knew this from all the pics and videos of the gorgeous shopping malls, posh hotels and clubs, and plentiful markets. And anyone familiar with Israel and what’s going on amidst its enemies knows that many of the so-called “oppressed” Palestinians living in Palestinian “refugee camps” live in palatial mansions and swank condos many Israeli Jews can only dream of (some of those palaces financed by the American tax payer through hundreds of millions dollars in Palestinian mortgage subsidies and bailouts set up by President BUSH).
Now, new figures show that the “oppressive,” “evil” Israelis actually helped the Palestinian economies in both HAMASastan (Gaza) and FATAHstan (the so-called “West Bank”) by loosening the blockade for the first six months of this year (most of it before the Gaza flotilla incident at the end of May). The figures show that Israel’s blockade is actually far too lax, and the Palestinians are flourishing, despite their whines. And remember, these figures are from the uber-liberal, anti-Israel IMF, so they are probably understated.
The Palestinian economy in the West Bank is estimated to have grown an annual 9 percent in the first half of this year, as Israel eased access restrictions, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The Gaza economy expanded about 16 percent during the same period, boosted by Israel’s relaxation of restrictions on imports, Oussama Kanaan, the organization’s chief of mission in the West Bank and Gaza, said today. The West Bank and Gaza are heading for 8 percent growth this year, up from 7.2 percent in the West Bank in 2009, and 5.4 percent in Gaza, Kanaan said. . . .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lifted roadblocks across the West Bank in an effort to promote Palestinian economic growth. . . .
In the West Bank, growth has been bolstered by improvements in government management by the Palestinian Authority, which have been supported by donor aid, according to the findings of the mission, Kanaan said. Its conclusions will be included in a report scheduled to be presented to donor countries on Sept. 21.
“Donor aid”? That’s you–the American taxpayers, who are footing a large portion of the bill for the Palestinian welfare state, to the tune of several billion dollars.
The Israeli government said on June 20 it will loosen its blockade on Gaza so that all food will be let in and only weapons and items that have a military use are kept out.
Yeah, good luck with that. They will continue to sneak in weapons and bomb components inside food shipments. That’s what they do. That’s what they’ll keep on doing.
Tags: blockade, economic growth, economy, Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Oussama Kanaan, West Bank
Looking historically at the last 100 years or so, there are only three circumstances under which Arab states have advanced economically: the exploitation of valuable resources like oil and gas; massive foreign assistance; and access to Israel.
The first of these is fairly obvious. Absent such resources, consider the case of Egypt, which in 1950 had a GNP per capita comparable to South Korea and the struggling new State of Israel. And look at it now; even with modest oil and gas reserves and over $60 billion in US assistance it lags considerably behind the other two.
Consider also the “West Bank” and Gaza under Jordanian and Egyptian control respectively from 1949-1967. Long neglected as backwaters, under Israeli control from 1967-1987 they saw rapid economic growth, advances in education, reduction in child mortality and increases in life expectancy. (Then came the first intifada, Arafat, and all the rest.) Yet there was little foreign assistance coming in during that time.
And today? UNRWA takes care of basic needs (education, health care, etc.), while Palestinians get more per capita aid than any other population on the planet – most from the US and Europe. (Arabs are rather tight when it comes to forking over money for their “brothers”.) Today I’m reading of a major upgrade in Gaza’s sewage infrastructure – paid for by the Germans.
Raymond in DC on September 14, 2010 at 12:35 pm