Some interesting statistics from an article in last week's Israel Insider by Gary Fitleberg entitled "Palestinians deserve better."
Under Israeli jurisdiction, 1967-93
Economic prosperity. Israeli investment in Palestinian business, industry, and infrastructure helped the PA GNP grow 13% annually between 1967 and 1980; per capita income grew tenfold; unemployment dropped from 40% to below 5%. Employment opportunities: Except during terrorist upsurges, Israel employs about 120,000 Palestinians from the disputed territories. Their earnings accounted for 43% of the West Bank's overall income.
Educational development. Israel built 6 universities and 20 community colleges for the Palestinians. Illiteracy dropped from 50% to 30% between 1967 and 1980. Standards of living soared. Health gains: Israel built 166 clinics, provided universal life insurance and medical programs for Palestinians. The morality rate plummeted by two thirds (1970-1990). Israel built hospitals and schools. Israel also expanded water, sewage, and electric systems.
Freedom of the Press. This basic right was extended even for press with anti-Israel opinions. Other civil and political freedoms. Freedom of association, trade unions, civic organizations and opposition parties permitted. Voting rights extended to poorer classes and to women for local elections for the first time in the Palestinian Arabs' history.
Fitleberg then compares this progress to the regression the palestinians have suffered under the rule of the PA since Oslo. It's not a pretty picture.
His conclusion:
Israel does not want to govern the Palestinians. It has tried repeatedly to negotiate a realistic solution that recognizes the Palestinian's right to self-determination. In the interim, Israel has tried to help them.
The Palestinians deserve better. The Palestinians deserve economic prosperity, employment opportunities, educational development, a higher standard of living, freedom of the press, and political and civil freedoms.
Are the Palestinians better off under the jurisdiction of the Israelis or under the Palestinian Authority? You be the judge.
Personally, I wouldn't be so quick to suggest what the palestinians do or do not "deserve," but, by the same token, it was an American Revolutionary War general (and a lot of New Hampshirites) who proclaimed "Live free or die." Clearly, the palestinians would be better off under the jurisdiction of a competent, non-corrupt, accountable leadership of their own people committed to living at peace with all its neighbors. But Fitleberg's statistics reinforce the point that many of the phantom "horrors" of the "occupation" dissolve into dust when exposed to the light of day.
