Saturday
Aug222009
Saturday Debate: Prosperity or Invasion in the West Bank?
Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 6:13
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Israel's high-profile Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, has been on an intense public-relations campaign over the last week. He had a nice chat with Fareed Zakaria on CNN and then wrote last week in the On August 13, The Wall Street Journal published "The West Bank Success Story". Oren explained that the economy of the West Bank has been flourishing because of the decline of terrorism and corruption and because of Israel’s contribution to the area's financial boom. After “the Palestinian initiative [on security] and the responsible fiscal policies of West Bank leaders”, supported by Israel’s initiatives through “removing dozens of checkpoints and road blocks, withdrawing Israeli troops from population centers, and facilitating transportation into both Israel and Jordan”, the West Bank is enjoying “an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage". Meanwhile, in Gaza, “Hamas has spent millions of dollars restocking its supply of rockets and mortar shells”.
Slovaj Zizek, not quite as high-profile as Oren, begs to disagree. Zizek, the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, wrote on Tuesday, "Quiet slicing of the West Bank makes abstract prayers for peace obscene". Zizek claims, "While paying lip-service to the two-state solution, Israel is busy creating a situation on the ground that will render such a solution impossible.” Israel’s “bureaucratic invasion” of the West Bank, with legal settlement constructions, is the main obstacle to peace:
So, what do you think? Is the Netanyahu Government deliberately slowing the peace process through “the pretext of economic flourishing”, whose primary outcome is the widening of the gap between Gazans and the inhabitants of the West Bank? Or is this economic growth the only way to reach a settlement through a “bottom-up” process, even if the issue of settlements is still a political problem to be resolved?
The Palestinians are flourishing economically. Unless they live in Gaza.
Michael B. Oren
Imagine an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage. Where in today's gloomy global market could one find such gleaming forecasts? Singapore? Brazil? Guess again. The West Bank.
Read rest of article....
Condemnation of 'illegal' settlements and violence only blurs the reality of what the Israeli state is sanctioning, day by day.
By Slovaj Zizek
On 2 August 2009, after cordoning off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem, Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families (more than 50 people) from their homes; Jewish settlers immediately moved into the emptied houses. Although Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's supreme court, the evicted Arab families had been living there for more than 50 years. The event – which, rather exceptionally, did attract the attention of the world media – is part of a much larger and mostly ignored ongoing process.
Read rest of article....
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
Israel's high-profile Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, has been on an intense public-relations campaign over the last week. He had a nice chat with Fareed Zakaria on CNN and then wrote last week in the On August 13, The Wall Street Journal published "The West Bank Success Story". Oren explained that the economy of the West Bank has been flourishing because of the decline of terrorism and corruption and because of Israel’s contribution to the area's financial boom. After “the Palestinian initiative [on security] and the responsible fiscal policies of West Bank leaders”, supported by Israel’s initiatives through “removing dozens of checkpoints and road blocks, withdrawing Israeli troops from population centers, and facilitating transportation into both Israel and Jordan”, the West Bank is enjoying “an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage". Meanwhile, in Gaza, “Hamas has spent millions of dollars restocking its supply of rockets and mortar shells”.Slovaj Zizek, not quite as high-profile as Oren, begs to disagree. Zizek, the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, wrote on Tuesday, "Quiet slicing of the West Bank makes abstract prayers for peace obscene". Zizek claims, "While paying lip-service to the two-state solution, Israel is busy creating a situation on the ground that will render such a solution impossible.” Israel’s “bureaucratic invasion” of the West Bank, with legal settlement constructions, is the main obstacle to peace:
The state of Israel is clearly engaged in a slow, invisible process, ignored by the media; one day, the world will awake and discover that there is no more Palestinian West Bank, that the land is Palestinian-free, and that we must accept the fact. The map of the Palestinian West Bank already looks like a fragmented archipelago.
So, what do you think? Is the Netanyahu Government deliberately slowing the peace process through “the pretext of economic flourishing”, whose primary outcome is the widening of the gap between Gazans and the inhabitants of the West Bank? Or is this economic growth the only way to reach a settlement through a “bottom-up” process, even if the issue of settlements is still a political problem to be resolved?
West Bank Success Story
The Palestinians are flourishing economically. Unless they live in Gaza.
Michael B. Oren
Imagine an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage. Where in today's gloomy global market could one find such gleaming forecasts? Singapore? Brazil? Guess again. The West Bank.
Read rest of article....
Quiet slicing of the West Bank makes abstract prayers for peace obscene
Condemnation of 'illegal' settlements and violence only blurs the reality of what the Israeli state is sanctioning, day by day.
By Slovaj Zizek
On 2 August 2009, after cordoning off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem, Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families (more than 50 people) from their homes; Jewish settlers immediately moved into the emptied houses. Although Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's supreme court, the evicted Arab families had been living there for more than 50 years. The event – which, rather exceptionally, did attract the attention of the world media – is part of a much larger and mostly ignored ongoing process.
Read rest of article....