According to Amy Chua, the author of World on Fire, chapter 10, p. 217-225, the Israeli Jews are fare more economically advanced and successful than the vastly more numerous generally impoverished Muslims surrounding them. Despite the infusion of trillions of oil dollars into the Gulf States, Israel has nevertheless outperformed all of her neighbours in the Middle East under any number of economic indicators.
According to the World Bank, 2000 Israeli’s per capita income was roughly $16,700 compared to $7,230 in Saudi Arabia, $1,710 in Jordan, $940 in Syria, and $370 in Yemen. In 2000, Israel’s infant mortality rate was roughly 5.5 per 1,000 live births, compared to approximately 43 per 1,000 live births in the rest of the Middle East. Also in 2000, 4% of Israel’s population over the age of 15 was illiterate, compared to 44% in Iraq, 45% in Egypt, and 54% in Yemen. In addition, Israel has a sophisticated welfare state, a powerful military said to have nuclear-weapon capacity, impressive infrastructure rivaling the Western nations, and a high technology sector competitive with Silicon Valley.
In contrast, large portions of the Arab Middle East are characterized by poverty, squalor, and mass frustration despite the region’s enormous oil wealth. In Saudi Arabia, writes Seymour Hersh, "Saudi princes - there are thousands of them - have kept tabloid newspapers filled with accounts of their drinking binges and partying with prostitutes, while taking billions of dollars from the state budget." Meanwhile male unemployment rate is estimate at 30%, and 25% of total population is illiterate. Jordan too, writes Stephen Glian, considered a "bright spot" in the Middle East, "has the same problems as the rest of the Arab world: hordes of disenfranchised, unemployment, hopeless young men susceptible to poaching by extremist group. In still poorer countries of North Africa there is no potable water, electricity or sanitation among vast portions of the population. In Egypt, despite immense amount of Western aid, the disparity between rich and poor has intensified.
The history of modern Israel began in 1882, thousands of well educated European Jews came together in their comment commitment to a Jewish state. The emphasized on the rule of law and build a well respected independent judiciary and reduced the levels of corruption and violence, which in turn attracted foreign investors and global markets.
They also received tremendous amount of financial assistance: Between 1950s - 1985, US government granted Israel $21 billion and continues to donate $3 billion annually. Over the same period, financial contributions from world Jewry totaled $9.4 billion, Meanwhile, between 1950s and 1965, West Germany paid the government of Israel $780 million in Holocaust reparations and $7 billion in personal reparations.
But most importantly, Israel has Human capital – unusually skilled and educated population and their deep commitment to the survival and success of a Jewish homeland. Israel is a magnet for Jews who move to Israel out of ideology rather than out of hopes for a better life. Most recently, over a million Russian Jews, quarter of them engineers have emigrated to Israel since the 1990s. In part because of this latest influx of engineering skill, Israel has become one of the world leaders in high technology.
Politically speaking, The Arabs lost every major military confrontation with Israel which emerged-owing both to Arab leaders' unwillingness to fight as a coalition. Arab elites focused attention on issues that included eliminating domestic opposition, violating the basic human rights of their populations, and involvement in inter-Arab disputes. The Arab leaders' record on the developmental front was equally dismal. Some regimes toyed with socialism and adopted the single-party apparatus to propel modernization. Others, such as the Gulf rentier states, adopted the welfare state approach. In the second, apparently more successful, approach, only a veneer of modernity was accomplished. Resources were squandered on weapons and grandiose projects of little economic utility. Corruption and nepotism prevailed, and the concept of the state, never fully understood in the modern Middle East as a guardian and representative of individual and community interests, soon lost its lustre. Instead of the cities acting to transform the villages, they were invaded by the latter. Arab leaders adopted draconian security measures to maime and silence their own people only to suffer one civil war after another.
ReplyDeleteAlso the emergence of increase, uncared for population caused cities to swell and become sprawling living quarters. Due to internal migration, which has intensified since the early 1970s, the heart of Middle East like Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Khartoum became shanty towns with increased poverty, illiteracy, hunger and disease. Within this atmosphere of political, economic, ideological and developmental failure, Israel cannot be defeated. The ascendancy of Israel and its virtual monopoly of Middle East is the result of our own imprudence and disunity.