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Deja vu — Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Judith Apter Klinghoffer

GREENHOUSES "ABANDONED" BY DEPARTING SETTLERS/UPDATES

Others say that even the rare successes, such as the speedy revival of agricultural production in greenhouses abandoned by departing Jewish settlers, represent a negligible contribution to restoring Gaza's economic fortunes.

Here you have it. A sliver of the ongoing big lie which is that Israel is responsible for everything and the Palestinians for nothing that is wrong with the hell that is life under the PA.

To write that the "greenhouses were abandoned," Harvey Morris (and Greg Myre of the NYT) must believe that our memories are short indeed. We no longer remember that the Israeli army forced the builders of those greenhouses to leave their homes because the authority could not be trusted to protect Jews living in Gaza. We no longer remember that the Jews wanted to take the greenhouses with them. We no longer remember that they were convinced by Jewish philanthropists to sell them those greenhouses so that they can DONATE them to the Palestinians. We no longer remember that when the Israeli army was gone, the Palestinians proceeded to LOOT and destroy those very same greenhouses.

Harvey Morris refuses to permit facts upset his belief in Palestinian victimhood. Note the title of his article, "Palestinians grow frustrated waiting for the expected economic recovery." He makes the Palestinians sound like a bunch of helpless babies abandoned by uncaring nursing stuff.

Note how Morris solves the problem of continuing to hold Israel responsible for Gaza's economic misery even after Israel, risking increased arms flow into gaza) gave up control of the territory's border with Egypt. He blames the slow flow of Gaza produce into Israel caused by the Intifada. But words like terror, violence or corruption are not uttered by Morris. Interestingly, Palestinians know better the reasons for their misery:

"Not a single investor has come to us since the Israeli disengagement," said Amr Hamad, Gaza head of the Palestinian Federation of Industries. "Frankly, they may be scared off by Gaza's negative image - the kidnappings and shootings. But we also need to create a better investment climate by reforming the relevant laws."

Morris even includes a month to month chart of Palestinian unemployment starting, of course, in 2000. Why 2000? Because that is when the PA started the intifada which further destroyed Gaza along with the rest of the Palestinian territories which thrived under Israeli occupation:

During the 1970's, in fact, the West Bank and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest- growing economy in the world ahead of Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and substantially ahead of Israel itself. Although GNP per capita grew somewhat more slowly thanks to the rapidly expanding Palestinian population, the rate was still high by international standards, with per-capita GNP expanding tenfold between 1968 and 1991 from US$165 to US$1,715 (compared with Jordan's US$1,050, Egypt's US$600, Turkey's US$1,630, and Tunisia's US$1,440).

Read the rest and cry for both nations victimized by ruthless ideologues some of whom disguise themselves as "objective reporters."

Update 1- See, "PA failing to secure former settlements," by KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Update 2 - David aka Succerdad wrote to direct me to two websites, one entitled Israeli-Palestinian Economic Relations and the other a 2000 UNSCO Special Report on the Palestinian Economy. Both demonstrates the efforts enormous growth in the PA economy during the ninties.

It was that growth that Arafat scuttled when he embarked on the intifada.

Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at 11:56 AM | Comments (0) | Return

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