Comments on: Palestinians take to streets in call for Fayyad to step down

By: Niz

Niz — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:13:12 +0000

I think Arabs have to look carefully at the reasons of their failure to develop.In fact, that’s what the Arab revolutions are doing as we speak. However, the argument of XYZ if applied to say the black Africans, then he would be labeled as a racist. Also, in the same way, when a European in the 18th century attacked the jews as money lenders “who could not work honestly like others”, while forgetting about the structural conditions, being the European guild system and the endemic anti-semitism, one is lead to believe that it is the nature of the Jews to be ‘money lenders’. Of course this is all crap! Hence, the insinuating tone of XYZ leads you to the logical conclusion, it is the fault of the Arabs because they are Arabs,it is in their nature to be backward and it is in their nature to hate us (and us is the enlightened European Jew). Very good,well done.
Discourses like that, other than being racist, are just stupid. The fact that the Arab states failed to develop has to be examined on the backdrop of militarized rent economies (like much of Africa). Now does Israel contribute to the state of underdevelopment? Yes! When you are occupied, losing your land constantly, are not able to buy or sell your produce, it does not help to build a modern economy. I am not going to defend the Arabs, we take full responsibility for our condition regardless of the historical injustices. In all cases, the occupation, colonialism and the local sources of oppression have to all be conquered. Taking responsibility means employing our will to be free and hence to fight the occupation and conquer it. So XYZ, however you turn it, your state and the racist apparatus will be destroyed, demolished and dismantled…and as we say in Arabic “we and you and time is fucking long!!”

By: Tim Upham

Tim Upham — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 03:16:45 +0000

The problem is if the Palestinian economy collapses, it would pull Israel down along with it. Israel and the Palestinians are attached to each other by an economic umbilical cord. The Palestinians do U.S. $3 billion dollars worth of business with Israel. Israel is the Palestinians largest trading partner. The Palestinians cannot apply for multi-lateral international assistance, because it is not a nation-state. But if it were, then they could be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This leads more to the formation of a two-state solution, where the Palestinians would be placed in a better position to be a trading partner with Israel. Israel has an economy the size of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon combined. The Palestinians would have a lot of catching up to do. But they would be in a better position to do so with multi-lateral international assistance, and if their economy did collapse, Israel would not be able to decouple to economically protect itself.

By: Greg Pollock

Greg Pollock — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 02:02:46 +0000

K9, anti Israeli activity exists in mirror image to Israeli State occupation for security. You cannot have independent economic growth under the Israeli transport regulations. Last I read, recently West Bank growth has decreased in manufacturing and agriculture while total growth is still positive; that growth, then, is associated with the PA, its patronage, and donations/loans. You have a bantu State; of course Palestinians outside the patrongage network are going to react negatively. Protests will continue in a more ogranized fashion (some of which I fear) under this security regime. To claim the occupation has not shaped this is absurd; this is distinct from Israel security needs as such, but it is derivitive of those needs.

By: Tim Upham

Tim Upham — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 01:12:31 +0000

Finland is a beautiful and heroic country. In 1939, it had to fight an army four times the size of that which landed at Normandy. It fought it alone, and unfortunately loss 10% of its territory in doing so.

By: William Bilek

William Bilek — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:15:59 +0000

Interesting that your “advice”, repeatedly, is to confront Israel “in an effective manner”. Here is a novel idea. Advise the Arabs to sit down and negotiate an agreement which would accept, and leave Israel as a secure nation state of the Jewish People, and work out a financial partnership with that state, which has the strongest economy in the region. That would be in the interest of both sides.

If the Arabs stopped trying to find ways to destroy the Jewish state, and used their ingenuity to work with it, it would be a win-win situation.

Now why is that not part of your “advice”?

By: Warren Metzler

Warren Metzler — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:07:42 +0000

Jack, you totally missed my point. I am talking about the Palestinian people, not the obviously totally corrupt “leadership” that currently exists. Nothing ever gets done if you let your current masters tell you what is possible to occur. Until the Palestinians have a freely elected government, they will never deal with Israel in an effective manner. And it would be absurd to let Fatah and Hamas be involved in that election, because they are filled with corrupt people who would never let a competent leadership emerge.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:29:42 +0000

Warren,
One problem is of course because PA are forbidden to work with Hamas according to Israel/US. PA loose aid, money, wages, support etc. Why? Because Israel want them to be internally fighting with each other and not united against israeli policies and occupation.

By: Toby

Toby — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:08:46 +0000

And you insult my – and everybody else’s – intelligence with your lack of knowledge about how PPP works.

Note that even by official exchange rate, just Egypt’s *industrial* output is *still* higher than Finland’s, and XYZ’s claim is *still* nonsense. But I know: You guys don’t operate like that. When you are shown that one of your outlandish claims is *plain wrong*, you quickly sweep it under the rug and move the goalposts to whatever new location you deem convenient.

By: Kolumn9

Kolumn9 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:32:46 +0000

The answer to your lament is that Palestinian political identity only manifests itself in anti-Israeli activity. You can’t have positive common action when all you have to unite your people is fear, hate, envy and the desire for vengeance.

By: Kolumn9

Kolumn9 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:23:36 +0000

You insult Finland with your lies. It is a very nice country.

Finland – GDP (exchange rate): $270B
Finland population – 5.4M
Egypt – GDP (exchange rate): $230B
Egypt population – 83M

PPP comparisons are only relevant when judging internal buying power, not in comparing international economic power.

All the economic problems mentioned by XYZ are those that Arabs complain about themselves. Every single one of them was announced as an underlying reason for dissatisfaction with the Mubarak government by his opponents.