There is a lot i could say about this. Simply put, people with something to look forward too are less likely to risk their lives in violence or to become a suicide bomber. If you take away someone's reasons to live and their dignity, dont expect them to react rationally or politely. This is as true in US cities as it is in Israel's occupied territories.
To have a future, people need a job. A way to make money, a way to build a life for the future. In order to have jobs, the community needs an economy and the freedom to trade. This seems like a no-brainer to me but it is news enough to make the front-page of the WSJ today.
I have heard a lot of good things about Mr. Wolfensohn. (He ran the World Bank before being replaced by Paul "This is our chance to invade Iraq" Wolfowitz.) Although I fear that there are too many people who want to continue the cycle of violence, i wish him the best of luck.
This is a long article but a good one on this region of conflict that never seems to go away. Without an economy, it takes aid (mostly from the USA) to support Israel's military. With regional trade, everyone in the region could prosper and that would strengthen the bonds of peace.
It is time to give peace a chance and work on an economic solution to stabilize the region. The costs of our invasion of Iraq should prove that a military answer is just not affordable. Instead of the status quo (pumping Billions of Dollars into Israels' and our own military), it might be cheaper to just give Palestinians cash that they could spend in Israeli stores. Maybe that is crazy but i dont see any impressive results from the past 40 years of military efforts.
Latest Answer To Mideast Crisis: Fix the Economy
Former World Bank Chief Bets Prosperity in New Gaza Will Blunt ExtremismIsraelis Worry About Security
December 28, 2005
KARNI CROSSING, Gaza -- James Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank, recently found himself on this border checkpoint between Israel and the Gaza Strip inspecting vegetables.
Boxes of tomatoes set for export baked under a strong sun as Israeli border guards, concerned about security, slowed traffic to a virtual halt. "Our produce is rotting," one farmer complained to Mr. Wolfensohn. Two days later, after a series of meetings, he had a solution: Israel would install a 20-foot high digital-scanning system to check shipments for weapons and explosives, satisfying its worries about terrorism and enabling Palestinian goods to pass.
It was a small but important victory for Mr. Wolfensohn, 72 years old, who is now a top diplomat in the region charged with fixing the beleaguered Palestinian economy. Since the spring, he has helped resolve border disputes, found funding for a seaport and safeguarded a chunk of the region's agricultural industry by rounding up a group of private investors, including himself. Gaza's residents will soon be able to travel to the West Bank for the first time in five years, a crucial step in integrating the economies of the two territories controlled by Israel since 1967.
Mr. Wolfensohn is betting that the Middle East conflict needs not only a political settlement but also an economic one. Prosperity, he believes, will blunt the appeal of extremism and give Palestinians a stake in building a new state after years of nearly continuous violence. He has one eye supporting the efforts of Palestinian moderates in January's parliamentary elections. The other is on fashioning an economy that could underpin any resolution for the long term.
