Perspective is everything. Citing an Arabic language article in Safa, Elder of Ziyon wrote that Arab towns surrounded by Jewish communities have 0% unemployment. Safa would have you think that this is in spite of the evil Zionist colonialists and their evil Apartheid wall.
Unfortunately, the facts as put forth by Safa, do not support this idea.
Rather, it shows a fact people would like to go away. Namely, that wherever Jews go, prosperity follows, which is how the whole Middle East conflict begins.
You don’t have to be smart to know you’re suffering. So if you can’t feed your family, you go to a place where you think you’ll have better luck, for instance where the Jews are, or alternatively, you invite the Jews to come to you. It happened in Speyer, Germany–the Jews were killed or thrown out and the townspeople suffered for it until the Bishop invited them back. It happened in England, when the Jews were expelled in 1290 and then readmitted specifically to improve the economy in the 16th century.
It happened in a lot of places.
This is why Arabs in Egypt and every other God-forsaken territory in the Middle East moved to pre-State Israel. The Jews were returning there and the Arabs hoped to cash in on the Jews’ future expected prosperity.
This, of course, all takes place over one thousand years after the Muslim Conquest of the Levant. If you’re well-read, you know that everywhere the Muslims went they oppressed, converted, and killed the inhabitants, despoiling and denuding the land. This is why the Jews returned to a wasteland. Mark Twain, recounting his trip to Palestine in 1867 described the place as, “a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds . . . a silent mournful expanse . . . a desolation . . . hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” (The Innocents Abroad, p. 361-362)
Which is silly.
And yet people parrot this false narrative as if it were true. And they talk about a state called Palestine that never was. They talk about “refugees” when the only refugees were the Jews expelled from or fleeing oppression from everywhere else, including the surrounding Arab countries.
What’s even sillier is that the Arabs stand only to lose by taking Jewish territory. Where the Jews are? That’s where the good life is. That is unless the Jews are (God forbid) 2000 leagues under the sea which is where the Arabs claim they’d like us to be.
Everywhere the PA or Hamas rule, poverty and oppression follow. And it’s not just in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, but in every Arab country you can name. Even where there is oil, a few prosper, while everyone else starves.
The two-state solution is the worst thing that could happen to Arabs.
And besides, the Arabs themselves, a whopping 68% of them, when polled, prefer to live under Israeli rule. Like DU-UH.
Of course, if you voice these thoughts out loud in certain circles, they’ll say you’re colonialist; paternalistic; it’s not your right to judge how others wish to live their lives; they deserve their independence; they deserve a homeland; and etc; ad infinitum; and blah, blah blah.
You know why they say that? It’s because THEY don’t have to live with terror. But let’s break it down for them:
1) Are the Jews colonialist?
No. Because you can’t colonize your own indigenous territory.
2) Are Jews paternalistic?
The left is. They don’t expect much from Arabs. That’s why they don’t require the Arabs to meet the Jews even part way in peace negotiations.
3) Do Arabs deserve their independence?
They deserve it as much as anyone else, by earning it. Those who contribute to the well-being of society remain independent. Those who don’t may end up with three squares and a cot.
4) Do Arabs deserve a homeland?
It’s a very nice idea, but if it’s not mentioned in your literature, and you got no ancient archeological remains, it ain’t yours.
But let’s forget all that for a moment. Let’s say you’re willing to be model citizens and rule over yourselves without interference. I say: knock yourselves out. Let yourselves be ruled exclusively by your own leaders. Pay your exorbitant taxes and leave us alone, i.e. stop shooting missiles into our territory.
You want to rule yourselves and be poor? It’s a choice.
Otherwise, you can be law-abiding citizens, live among the Jews, and prosper.
That really is the choice. Because wresting our land away from us? It won’t do you any good. It’s documented. Your track record with our land is lousy. You made it unlivable and left.
Then the Jews came back so you came back. You lived AMONG us. And look what happened! You got a zero percent unemployment rate!
Take it from me: you might as well make the most of a good thing.
Because this time we’re here to stay.
