Palestinian Culture

I have been amazed to see the response to Mitt Romney's statement that the economic vitality of Israel compared to that of the Palestinians has much to do with the culture of the Israelis. There is little doubt that this statement is correct. Israel lives under the rule of law, allows individual freedom, and promotes education as something other than a political tool. By contrast, the Palestinians live under the rule of the most powerful, allow no individual freedom and use schools as a means to a political end. Not surprisingly, the Palestinians were annoyed to have Romney point out the truth about these competing cultures. What has been surprising, however, has been the response from the liberal media and the Obama campaign to Romney's statement. Many have echoed the Palestinian claims that Romney's statement of the truth was racist. Others have justified the poor Palestinian economy as the result of Israeli occupation. Some have said that Palestinian areas are surrounded and therefore cannot prosper. All of this is total nonsense.

Let's first consider if pointing out the cultural difference and its result is racist. Is it racist to tell the truth? If the Palestinians are kept in relative poverty by their culture, is it wrong to point this out? The only rational answer to this question is NO! Indeed, the idea that one must remain silent about the truth in order not to offend a racial or ethnic group is what is racist. Curtailing efforts to inform those affected and to correct the problem is what is racist.

So what of the Israeli occupation? That ended for the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians a while ago. For example, in Gaza where some 1.5 million Palestinians live, there has been no Israeli presence in five years. Of course, the Palestinians in the area did not move to promote economic growth, but instead brought in all sorts of missiles and other arms which they frequently lob into Israeli territory. That effort leads to retaliation from Israeli forces rather than to economic development. On the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has control of the bulk of the Palestinian people. All the foreign aid money that got sent to the PA to help it build the economy was stolen by the leadership and sent to bank accounts abroad. Yassir Arafat, the leader of the PA for so long left an estate estimated at ten billion dollars. He did not get the money by saving it out of his salary. He simply stole all of the aid money.

Okay, but the Palestinians are surrounded, aren't they? Really? It is Israel that is surrounded. It has no neighbors with whom it is able to trade easily. That situation has persisted for the last 65 years, but Israel has grown into a modern economy. The Palestinians were integrated economically into Israel after the 1967 war when Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians got good paying jobs in Israel and for Israeli companies. Then, in 2000 the Palestinians began a terror campaign against Israel. Civilian bombings were commonplace. The Palestinian Authority was running this uprising and inflicting major injury on Israel. As a result, Israel put in serious border controls to prevent the flow of weapons and bombs into its territories. Let's not forget that the border wall between Israel and the West Bank was built to keep these bombs out of Israel, and it worked. Of course, the uprising also meant that most of the Palestinians were no longer able to work in Israel because commuting to work became nearly impossible. The jobs went to others and the uprising chosen by the Palestinian leaders led to massive unemployment. Nothing has been done by the PA to remedy this unemployment.

Nothing that I have said above is really capable of being disputed. The truth is that the Israeli culture has contributed to Israel's vibrant economy. Romney was correct in what he said. The liberals who ran to try to shoot down Romney's statement and the White House folks who joined in that effort are actually arguing falsely. The sad thing is that they know that they are wrong. But these people never miss and opportunity to label someone they oppose a "racist". It is truly sad.