Friday, January 29, 2010

Obama/Mitchell Settlement Freeze Hurting Palestinians

I've always believed that one of the only real solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict is economic growth. When people are sitting at home or in cafes with nothing really to do, it is pretty easy for them to be radicalized and do something crazy and/or stupid. With sustainable economic growth people start enjoying life more and tend to worry more about their next slide presentation or meeting and tend not to want to risk what they have to kill the guy down the street who may be helping to pay his bills. So from this point of view, the settlement freeze, which has been pushed so hard by the Obama administration, is actually increasing the chance for terror by increasing Palestinian hardship:

Mr. Mustafa estimates that about 80 percent of camp residents who work in construction are now unemployed, while those still working are taking jobs for 50 shekels a day ($13) rather than the 150 shekels ($40) they used to make.

“The settlement freeze has only brought more poverty,” complains Abdel Aziz Othman.

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