The Hidden Dynamics

Guest Post by Akiva at Mystical Paths

Every .. Single .. Time the Arabs attack and the Israelis close things down to defend themselves, the Arabs scream, the UN screams, the world screams, "economic strangulation!!" What is going on here?

Here's the hidden dynamic that no one talks about, the both politicians and the MSM almost always gets wrong...

What is the economy of the Palestinians (that is, in theory, being "strangled"?) Now in the West, in the US or England or France, when we speak of economy you think of a big interconnected engine. Local industry, local food production, imports, exports, service industries. But the "Palestinian" economy?

Exports: Not much, some olives and olive oil, vegetables to Israel and Jordan, and cement or base components for cement to Israel.

Local Industry: Basically, none.

So what is the primary occupation of the "Palestinians"?

Since 1870, it has been: providing service sector employees to the Jews, and later to Israel. Primarily farm labor and construction labor. After a number of terror attacks from farm workers, the Israeli farms dropped Palestinian labor (and imported labor from the far east, Thailand).

Which means the major economic driver of "Palestine" is Israeli construction labor. Further, the local market, ie the 'settlements', are nearby and readily available. Meaning the item stopping starvation in many Palestinian villages is construction and service jobs (landscaping, road work, etc) in the Jewish towns!

NY Times: For Washington and Jerusalem to exert constructive influence in this dangerous situation, they urgently need to adopt a new and wiser approach to Palestinian politics. That means doing more to help Mr. Abbas in the only currency that really counts, easing the lives of ordinary Palestinians.

That should include a total freeze on settlement building and expansion, a prompt easing of the onerous, humiliating and economically strangulating blockades on Palestinian movements within the West Bank, and the swift release to Mr. Abbas’s office of all tax revenues rightfully belonging to the Palestinians but still in Israeli hands. - (via SoccerDad)

"A total freeze on settlement building and expansion", that is destruction of the "Palestinian" economy. Gaza's economy died with the Jewish departure from Gaza, local jobs disappeared and all the subsequent jobs that those primary workers income generated, as well as the migrate labor force being locked out of Israel.

The hidden unspoken dynamic at work for the Palestinians is, their economy is based on the bracha of the Jews and the flourishing of Israel. Today, their econonmy is almost solely based on world handouts, of which the vast majority are siphoned off. The Palestinian people are completely dependent on the largess of the world channeled and distributed by thugs.

The Holy Land flourishes through the Jews, and withers with their departure. As historical records show, for over a thousand years the population did not exceed 150,000. When the Jews began returning around 1850, the population started to grow, the land started to flourish, and a supporting Arab population came to provide supporting labor.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael