Israel Knows That Peace Just Doesn't Pay
by Amira Hass
Haaretz (Israel: May 11, 2009
Successive Israeli governments since 1993 certainly must have known what
they were doing, being in no hurry to make peace with the Palestinians. As
representatives of Israeli society, these governments understood that peace
would involve serious damage to national interests.
Economic damage:
The security industry is an important export branch - weapons, ammunition
and refinements that are tested daily in Gaza and the West Bank. The Oslo
process - negotiations that were never meant to end - allowed Israel to
shake off its status as occupying power (obligated to the welfare of the
occupied people) and treat the Palestinian territories as independent
entities. That is, to use weapons and ammunition at a magnitude Israel could
not have otherwise used on the Palestinians after 1967. Protecting the
settlements requires constant development of security, surveillance and
deterrence equipment such as fences, roadblocks, electronic surveillance,
cameras and robots. These are security's cutting edge in the developed
world, and serve banks, companies and luxury neighborhoods next to
shantytowns and ethnic enclaves where rebellions must be suppressed.
The collective Israeli creativity in security is fertilized by a state of
constant friction between most Israelis and a population defined as hostile.
A state of combat over a low flame, and sometimes over a high one, brings
together a variety of Israeli temperaments: rambos, computer wizards, people
with gifted hands, inventors. Under peace, their chances of meeting would be
greatly reduced.
Damage to careers:
Maintaining the occupation and a state of non-peace employs hundreds of
thousands of Israelis. Some 70,000 people work in the security industry.
Each year, tens of thousands finish their army service with special skills
or a desirable sideline. For thousands it becomes their main career:
professional soldiers, Shin Bet operatives, foreign consultants,
mercenaries, weapons dealers. Therefore peace endangers the careers and
professional futures of an important and prestigious stratum of Israelis, a
stratum that has a major influence on the government.
Damage to quality of life:
A peace agreement would require equal distribution of water resources
throughout the country (from the river to the sea) between Jews and
Palestinians, regardless of the desalination of seawater and water-saving
techniques. Even now it's hard for Israelis to get used to saving water
because of the drought. It's not difficult to guess how traumatic a slash in
water consumption to equalize distribution would be.
Damage to welfare:
As the past 30 years have shown, settlements flourish as the welfare state
contracts. They offer ordinary people what their salaries would not allow
them in sovereign Israel, within the borders of June 4, 1967: cheap land,
large homes, benefits, subsidies, wide-open spaces, a view, a superior road
network and quality education. Even for those Israeli Jews who have not
moved there, the settlements illuminate their horizon as an option for a
social and economic upgrade. That option is more real than the vague
promises of peacetime improvements, an unknown situation.
Peace will also reduce, if not erase entirely, the security pretext for
discriminating against Palestinian Israelis - in land distribution,
development resources, education, health employment and civil rights (such
as marriage and citizenship). People who have gotten used to privilege under
a system based on ethnic discrimination see its abrogation as a threat to
their welfare.
© 2009 Haaretz
***
From: Sid Shniad
:
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 1:29 PM
Subject: Study: Poverty fueling Muslim tension with West
AP News
May 7, 2009
Gallop Study: Poverty fueling Muslim tension with West
Poverty, not religious differences, fueling Muslim tensions with the West,
report claims
David Stringer
Associated Press writer
London - Joblessness and poverty are a more potent source of tension between
Muslims and wider European and U.S. society than religious differences, one
of the first major studies of Muslim integration since the Sept. 11 terror
attacks claimed on Thursday.
Attacks by Islamic extremists on the United States, and European capitals
like Madrid and London, have sparked debate about whether a failure of
Muslims to integrate into Western society has fueled extremism and created
divisions between communities.
But a study of around 10,000 people in 27 countries by the Gallup polling
company claims non-Muslims - including the public and lawmakers - have
misunderstood the attitudes of Muslims in the West, stifling attempts to
promote better understanding.
Muslims in the West are more patriotic, more tolerant and more likely to
reject violence than the rest of Western society believes they are, the
study claims.
Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies
and a faith adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, said the surveys exposed
as myths many ideas about the relationship between Muslims and the rest of
society.
"This research shows that many of the assumptions about Muslims and
integration couldn't be more wide of the mark," she said. "European Muslims
want to be part of the wider community and contribute to society."
The study found that only 10 percent of British Muslims consider themselves
integrated into British society, compared to 46 percent of French Muslims
and 35 percent of German Muslims. Mogahed, an Egyptian-American Muslim, said
unemployment and access to education were key factors in isolating Muslims
in the West.
The study found that 38 percent of British Muslims said they had a job,
lower than the figure for the British general public - 62 percent - and
lower than Muslims in Germany or France, where 53 percent and 45 percent
respectively said they were employed.
Mogahed said that Muslims, particularly in Britain and France, feel
marginalized because they have more difficulty finding jobs than
non-Muslims, and typically have lower incomes.
"Economic integration may become more precarious in light of the current
financial crisis affecting Europe," she said.
Another key finding of the study was that that Muslims don't prioritize
their faith over patriotism, Mogahed said.
The study found that 77 percent of British Muslims feel a strong sense of
British identity, compared to 50 percent of the country's non-Muslims. In
France, around half of Muslims and non-Muslims say they feel a strong sense
of patriotism.
Attempts to create a greater sense of national identity among Muslims have
been a key concern for European lawmakers, particularly in Britain - where
British-born Muslims have been behind several attempted terror attacks since
2001.
Four suicide bombers who killed 52 commuters and themselves in an attack on
London's subway and bus network on July 7, 2005 where born in Britain -
three with family ties to Pakistan.
Gallup conducted multiple surveys in 27 countries in 2008. Polls of the
general public typically questioned around 1,000 people, with a margin of
error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The company said polls of Muslims involved samples of 500 people, with a
margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
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