Steven,

Agree with your most of your last post specially re Hamas. For Gaza to be controled by Hamas is a step in the wrong direction.

You mis-interpreted my comment re "Israel helpless" on the contrary that is not my view. The point I was trying to make is that the whole region can have an EU like future if they work together (ie Israel and its neigbouring countries). The Israeli and the Arabs need a change of attittude and should both say good bye to muscles or victim attitude but rather put their heads together as they share the same region, culture and resources. Sooner or later they will come to realise if they can't unite no one really cares about either of them.

Peace,

Fellow-human,

The Palestinians have two blessings and one potential blessing going for them.

The two blessing are.

-They don't have any oil; and

-They are the best educated most technically competent Arab society. Literacy is almost 100%.

The potential blessing is that they are right next door to the EU, one of the richest markets in the world. If they could attract just a tiny fraction of the investment that goes to China they could experience rapid economic advancement.

Why the hell do they mess about with Qasams? Why don’t they have trade delegations in the EU trying to attract investment? With the kind of ingenuity the Palestinians displayed in making rockets out of scrap they should have no difficulty persuading the Europeans to site some factories in Gaza and the West Bank.

Instead of making Qasams I'd like to see them making components for BMWs. Sort of beating your rockets into automotive parts.

On a per capita basis Israel attracts much more investment than does even China. Why don't the Palestinians get in on the game?

This is all such a fu ck ing waste!

Just keep em talking till the oil runs out, then their economies will collapse and it will be all over red rover.

Well, I used to ask Palestinians the very same question.
Even though it must be frustrating to see someone land taken, they should also master the anger and make the best of what they have.
I never heard good answers but my views is initially their system of governance is corrupt and dysfunctional. It also worked well for the Israeli since the territories are a good source for cheap labour.

Who really knows, as AlanPoi says, seometimes I really wished this region never had any oil so you can focus on something else. Unfortunately they have lots of other natural resources such as natural, Gas, Uranium, etc...They will always be rich adn lazy I guess.

Fellow_Human

The Gazans can only dream of the "good old days" when they could work as "cheap labour" in Israel. Now the border crossings are closed and they've all lost their jobs.

Some West Bankers still work in Israel but it's a fraction of the number that used to.

Meanwhile people from across Asia, especially the Phillipines, Thailand and Vietnam are flocking to Israel to fill the jobs vacated by the Palestinians.

BTW you too, Fellow_Human, have a source of cheap labour. It's located in China Indonesia and Vietnam among other places.

Ever wondered why everything from TVs to cutlery is so cheap these days? It's because they're made by "cheap" Asian labour.

"Cheap labour" exists because we want to buy cheap products. If you want to know who is exploiting labour look in the mirror. Look around you on the tram.

Steven,

No need to get defensive on cheap labour. The point I was making that Israelis were supporting fatah even though they are aware of their corruption because of many reasons one of which is cheap labour. Gaza had 40% unemployment and most of them are living on a less than a $1 a day per person. Which made it a 'cheap educated labour heaven to the Israeli businesses.

There are no angels on either side of the fence. Its politics.