At any point during the past 59 years since the re-birth of Israel in 1948, Arab governments could have helped the Palestinian Arabs settle down to a decent life. They could have created the infrastructure of an autonomous Palestine on the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza territory that Egypt controlled until 1967, or encouraged the resettlement of Palestinians in Jordan, (which constitutes the lion's share of the original mandate of Palestine). Rather than fund the Palestine Liberation Organization to foment terror against Israel they could have endowed Palestinian schools of architecture, engineering, medicine and law. Since Israel withdrew from Gaza the Palestinian Authority has demonstrated where it's true priorities lie and it is not in the lives of the Palestinian people but rather in the destruction of the Jews and their state. If there were no Palestinian terrorism there would indeed be no Israeli checkpoints as referred to in the above. Such facts are conspicuous by their absence in this report and article, as is any reference to the Human Rights of the Jews. Enough said. http://www.zionist.com/2007/03/05/and-israel-is-to-blame-for-the-palestinians-economic-woes And Israel is to blame for the Palestinians’ economic woes? http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015503.php 45 internet café bombings in Gaza since December 1.

Only citizens should have a right to work here. Israel needs to establish an oath of loyalty. Anyone who can't be comfortabl swearing to it, shouldn't be here.

Did their study address the issue of financial accountability? There's not much point in pouring millions of dollars into an economy that wastes money on civil war and terrorism, and where so much money goes ilegally into the pockets of its leaders and administration. Like #24 says, why should Israel provide jobs for people who are constantly attempting to kill Israelis?

1 Palestinian gets more aid than a single African. Wtf do they do with the money? For sure not boosting their own economy. The Israel-blamegame is too easy. Bt Selem should know better.

Isma'il Haniya, the prime minister from the Hamas movement, said in a Friday sermon in response to the cutting of international aid: 'We will eat wild thyme, salt, olive oil, and olives, but we will never bow our heads.'

I saw, about one year ago, a documentary about the birth of Israel made by the British. This to say that the source was less than favourable to Israel. In this documentary, referring to the first Intifada and the arrival of mr. Yasser Arafat in Gaza in 1995, the authors were referring to the fast economic decline of Palestinian economy: they had a BETTER economy during the occupation than since Arafat returned to "lead" the ANP. It's the terrorism that is depressing Palestinian economy and making Palestinian (despite the HUGE amount of money the International Community is pumping in the ANP cash...) poorer and poorer. When Palestininan will stop the terror they will stop also poverty. Once and for all, Palestinians must take responsibility of their own actions: they cannot address responsibilities ALWAYS to others like three-year-old children.

We got out of Gaza, totally. Why do they remain MORE poor there? Why did they destroy billions of dollars worth of hothouses that could have helped them create a thriving economy? BTW, rather ironic that you want us to get out of their faces, yet, I'm sure don't want us to stop providing them work passes into Israel (and even increase them). Since I'm sure you'll mention lack of job opportunities, I'll act preemptively: please explain why B'Tselem attempts to institutionalize work programs in Israel instead of job creation in the territories? Could it be because they saw what happened with the hothouses or with billions of dollars of aid money? Could it be because INFIGHTING is what has destroyed the majority of infrastructure in the past year?

If only the Palestinians used all the billions of dollars that they were given for infrastructure, food, education and wanting to behave human instead of buying weapons, bombing innocent Israelis and picking up their sewage pipes to make kassams then they would not be so poor right now.

By the end of the 19 th century,some Jews started returning to our home(I mean mine and of my Jews brothers and sisters). They started BUYING lands-ups!excuse-me,those were not lands but swamps,arabs were very happy to get rid of-and,with inteligency and advanced tecnology,they started to transform those swamps in unbelievable productive lands. But,you know,hard work and inteligency,unfortunately,draw with them envy and hate from those incapable ones. Hence arabs ,full of envy,started attacking those pionners,and they had to fight(of course!)in order to keep on fullfilling the wish of their Souls. And they WON,because we are not used to quit. They did that to me and,as I said before,to all my Jewsih brothers and sisters. They gave their blood for us,they fought for us to be here now and be able to keep on " fighting" to fullfill what we believe is our Destiny and,step by step ,makeof this country and example in all possible aspects:social,economic,technologic,etc. Miracles started happening by those times,being one of them the re-birth of a " dead" language,due to the tenacity and idealism of one man,followed by many,resulting in what is today the language spoken by all Israelis-Ivrit-,the language of our ancestors. Many other Miracles have been happening. After a lot of more given blood ,those pionners,through diplomatic efforts,got to have that land accepted by all the nations and thus the State of Israel was created(with some parts of it being grabbed by Jordan,but this is another history). By that time ,Israel was tiny,tiny,tinier than now,but eventhough,those Jews were happy and started building a country.But...ARABS attacked this tiny newborn Israel in the first day of its birth. Arabs have never wished letting Jewish People to fulfill our Destiny,never! Israel was atackr\ed many times and fought wars it didn't start,but it won those wars,WON! Do you understand? But even having gained those wars,Israel accepted "peace treats" and gave up huge parcels of land,HUGE!,just for the deepwish of having peace. Sinai was given up;lebanon;sacred places for the Jews were given to a TERRORIST PA,which has never respected any agreements,while Israel compromised so many times. Israel up-rooted brothers and sisters from Gush Katif,people who had beautiful houses and striving businesses.10000 people!All of that in order to achieve peace with arabs. Did Israel get peace?NO!!!! From Gaza,roquets have been sent into Israel;from Egypt,arms have been smugled into Gaza to damage Israelis;in South Lebanon,hisbollah strives under the nose of UN that dooesn't do anything to stop it;from the west bank,incessant attemps of bomb suiciders,who want to explode Israeli buses,restaurants,etc,are curbed by Israeli forces. CONCLUSION: What are you defending? My opinion about you is that if you are really a Jew,what I really doubt,you are a very ignorant one. As well ,you seem to have your thought damaged under many years bellow a communist regime in your Eslovaquia,or still ,you are an old aged individual with the mentallity of a 10 years old children. Therefore,take a look in the mirror and curb yourself.

B'Tselem chooses to totally disregard basic logic: Cause and Effect exactly the same ways Arabs/Moslems ignore Cause and Effect and moreover blame Jews/Israeli for ALL THEIR PROBLEMS and FAILINGS without ever taking responsibility for THEIR ACTIONS. In PURIM we just celebrated the triumph of Israel over the Amalek led persecutions and read that we suffer Anti-Semitic persecution in every generation. What did the Jews ever do to the Nazis, Germans, and Europeans to cause them to deplete all their resources for the vile purpose of trying to annihilate us. They murdered 2/3 of the Jews in Europe. The cause was simple Anti-Semitic hatred based on blood libels and other lies. There is no substantive reason for their hatred - The JEWS DID NOTHING THAT COULD WARRANT SUCH A CRIME AGAINST US. On the other hand PAL Arabs have engaged in terror against us since the 1920's if not before. They massacred the Jews of Hevron and enganged in countless acts of terror against us expecting that once again we would be passive and silent in the face of this onslaught. But having learnt our lessons, we grew stronger, smarter, and most of all did the unthinkable - WE FOUGHT BACK. The Arabs exploited their freedoms to plant bombs in marketplaces, to attack children playing anywhere from Ma'alot to the Dolphinarium and beyond. Just as criminals, rapists, and murderers are put behind bars, so happened to a PAL society who democratically chose terror and terrorist to rrepresent.them before the world. They exploited the jobs we provided to gain access and tactical information to blow up the Park Hotel in Netanya, the cafeteria in Hebrew University. As such they lost the trust that brought them jobs. They destroyed the greenhouses that would have provided jobs and help their economy. They have defiled our religious sites and continue to do so. In conclusion, any report of B'Tselem that does not first address the PAL murderous terrorist actions but focuses on Israeli preventive, counter-terror, and punitive measures is nothing but a sham. The PALs have shunned every peace effort and chosen Intifada and terror at every opportunity. So just as PALs do not face up to their responsibility to behave in a legal moral and ethical way, seeking peace or non-beligerince, and focusing on the welfare of the PAL in a non-hatred driven fashion, so B'Tselem is guilty of complicity with terror, supporting the terrorists, defending their massacres and attacks, but most of all never addressing the true causes of the suffering of the PALs - Their own murderous actions driven by 24x7 non-stop propoganda, blood libels, and brainwashing their children and people to hate us without reason or worse give us them reason by forcing us to engage in counter-terror which ultimately causes them to suffer for their crimes while blaming us. After all it is never the rapist who is at fault. It must always be the victim. So in the end we are blamed, Fares drops out of the beauty contest being a potential victim of "honor killiings" and the warped Arab logic continues with B'Tselem spearheading the attack on civil society trying to defend itself from terror and terrorists. One must ask who is really worse, the terroists or B'Tselem perverting all logic and attempt to further victimize the victims of terror by laying guilt trips just as society re-rapes women forcing them to live in guilt for the crimes they suffered.

their leaders and the arab world are responsible for their plight by deliberately keeping them in this situation. If they were another people i would be sorry .

#38: Israel is still very much of control of all of Gaza's borders, except that with Egypt but including land, sea and airspace, as well as the main crossings with Egypt, which are monitored by Israel. Does that sound like freedom to you?? #41: All what you say is true (minus the emotive rhetoric) but also totally irrelevant. Even if the occupied territories were clearly under the legal title of the State of Israel (which they are not by a long shot: we have no stronger a claim to them than Jordan would if it hadn't renounced it), fact is that any group of people has a right to self-determination, secession and independence. This is especially true of the Palestinians who patently do NOT want to live as part of Israel (not that we would let them anyway) and who are in the majority in the territories. So, wake up and smell the coffee.

This is just extending Toaff's excellent scholarship. Jews are also guilty of the black death, communism, capitalism, gravity and the vacuum in space (and between Steiner's ears). All in a days work.

steiner - simple question. why will retreating and giving a base to those who are actively trying to destroy israel help achieve peace? it seems you are bent on israel's destruction. a negotiated peace is one thing. unilateral withdrawal which you have had a hard on for since you started hyping kadima and sharon's move to withdraw as the best thing since sliced bread is something else. even olmert sees now that unilateral withdrawal from the west bank would be a security nightmare. as iran continues to arm and train hamas and hamas builds fortified tunnels into gaza from egypt and into israel from gaza you don't see the value of idf checks on these military preparations? i am happy you are not in a position of power in israel.

Why should Israeli's give Pali's jobs? They don't even recognize Israel. I say find a job in in Gaza or the West Bank and stay segregated just like everyone wants it.

22 HUGE OIL-WEALTHY Arab countries refuse to help and give work to their Arab brothers??? In TINY Israel people are struggling to survive economically and survive the daily war waged by vicious Jew-hater Islamo Fascists.

Eric Cartman found a "K" on the packages of Cheesy Poufs and Snacky Smores so therefore the Zionists made Cartman a fat retard.

Take the trouble to visit Be'tselem site: you will find only NINE example of terrorist attacks against Jews alongside tons of alleged abuses along the Palestinians. Betselem is not a human rights organization, ii is a Palestinian propaganda agency.

I meant against the Palestinians, not along the Palestinians. Sorry!

and leaders who steal the Palestinians blind. These are some of the factors that have contributed to Palestinian poverty. Prior to the Intifada, Palestinian unemployment was about 10%-25%. It now ranges between 25%-40% and in spite of the on-going terror campaign, Israel remains the biggest employer of the Palestinians. B'tselem is a Pro-Palestinian organization that only tells one side of the story. They're busy blaming Israel and never establish the root cause of the poverty. Until you're willing to put responsibility on the Palestinians themselves, especially their own self-destructive behavior, you will never break the cycle of poverty, violence and chaos. B'tselem is a tool of the anti-Israel crowd. Their purpose does not involve problem solving to help the Palestinians change. They maintain the status quo to continue the Israel blame game.

Of course you know what the countless majority in Israel who do not want to give into the demands of violent Arabs do not know. You know that no matter what rights Israeli citizens have that murdering Arabs will be backed by sympathetic Jews or wannabe Jews like yourself. Self hating and self debasing Jews with moral guidance save their flawed leftist ideology. You are not smelling coffee Erev Rav Steiner, you are smelling the burning chords that should anchor you in reality. You can not fathom that there is “NO” PA, “NO” intrinsic Arab territory inside Israel, “NO” ancient Palestinian homeland and “NO” humanitarian rights for inhumane Arabs. The Arabs occupying Israel have as much chance of having a peaceful homeland as you have of being an Israeli PM, B’Hashem!

You conveniently didn't answer the question about hothouses, which were destroyed within days of the pullout (when the border issue was still being debated/coordinatated). Besides, what do borders have to do with destroying profitable infrastructure. Yes, Israel is in charge of its borders with Gaza. Just like other nations are in charge of their borders. Your argument about Israeli borders being the cause of poverty is like saying Mexicans are poor because the US patrols its borders. As to airspace and port space, yes, that is different than the US, HOWEVER the relevant produce/flowers that could have been produced by the destroyed hothouses would have been exported by trucks, which, btw, pass through the crossings (Karni, etc) on a regular basis. Likewise, they could have passed through the Egyptian border. You also didn't address the issues of aid mismanagement (aka shunting it to terror funds) or infighting.

Not only that, buddy, but his also: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3372737,00.html I mean when Palios go for each other's throats over who has control over some training ground (i.e. terrorist training ground), how is Israel responsible for their poverty, plight, and all the rest of the bladda-yadda-yadda ?