Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Trouble in paradise

The Gaza strip lies on the Mediterranean Sea, has miles of great beaches and a pleasant climate. Contrary to popular belief, the Gaza strip also boasts acres of open spaces and beautiful countryside. It could and should be a tourist haven - however ....

If the "government" and people wanted it then Gaza could be one of the tourist hot spots of the Med - but they don't.

If the "government" of Gaza had used the billions of dollars of aid money to build an infrastructure to support tourism they'd be well on the way to achieving a very nice lifestyle for their people - but they don't.

If the "government" of Gaza stopped trying to attack Israel then Israel would leave them alone - but they don't.

If the "government" of Gaza were genuinely concerned about the welfare of the Gazan people they'd concentrate on building a tourist economy rather than a military dictatorship - but they don't.

Do the "government" and people of Gaza want peace and prosperity - or do they just want to kill Jews?

Everyone seems to think the Israeli response was "disproportionate" - even though there is no such thing as proportionality in warfare (the whole point is to kill as many enemies as possible with as few losses on your own side as possible) - but if you want to consider proportions, consider this.

Roughly one third of Israeli dead were civilians. Roughly one quarter to one third of Gazan dead were civilian - so, proportionately, they are about even. However, seeing how 99.99999999% of the fighting took place in Gaza one would normally expect the civilian proportion of Gazan dead to be considerably higher than that of the attacking Israelis. It isn't - that tells a story on its own.

1 comment:

Lorenzo said...

Yasser Arafat had multi millions stashed away and didn't all that disappear to someone in France maybe it was his wife. They've had years to talk the world onto their side to see they are treated fairly but instead all they have done is behave like bullying children in the playground lobbing explosive insults at Israel. If you thump some one bigger than you expect to end up on your back. They've been given a lesson they shouldn't ever forget. Now perhaps they might take up your idea of tourism. It worked in the Lebanon until they sparked off and now their in ruins too.