Gaza wont be Singapore soon… Maybe become Syria

Some Israelis and the western world were too optimistic during the 2005 Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. They expected Gaza to become a Singapore or Dubai. No country can develop in that way without first making peace and focusing on a better future for their generations. That also means getting out of the victim mindset, accepting the present reality and be willing to have sustainable peace.

Hamas has brought this destruction on Gaza. First they refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Second, they used all their resources in building up their terrorist infrastructure instead of taking care of their people. This makes Gaza more like Syria or Iran than Singapore. Hamas is and has always focused only on destroying Israel – not taking care of its people. Looking after the basic needs of Gazans was purely a job for UNRWA. This model has been their magical formula that is supposed to solve all their problems and keep their population under control. All Hamas succeeded is in creating one of the longest and painful humanitarian crisis in Gaza for 18 years. No amounts of deaths, starvation and economic problems would distract them from their fight against Israel or make them release the hostages.

Most Israelis on the right today compare the West Bank to Gaza. They say that if Area A & B in the West Bank is given international recognition without first making lasting peace with Israel, it will become another major terrorism front for Israel. This is true. But most don’t see that the opposite is also true. Once Hamas is flushed out of Gaza, in the future, it will look only like the present West Bank. It wont become Singapore. This war will only create an arms embargo, reduce terrorism from the Gaza strip and create some limited progress and development for Gazans. But unless their population is not completely deradicalized, makes peace with us and focuses its resources on the development its people, the future will not be so bright for them. Of course Israel will be blamed never-the-less.

Fast paced economic growth requires a strong development focused leadership from the Palestinians. Unfortunately the Arab World and the Palestinians leaders of the past and present have only led the Palestinians to the wrong paths which only caused them more suffering. Israel is not going anywhere. So any terrorism or attacks on Israel will only add to the suffering to the Palestinians besides the usual neglect by the Palestinian leadership on economic growth of its people. UNRWA has been dedicated to feed the victim mindset of the Palestinians and take care of some basic needs so that the Palestinian leadership can focus on destroying Israel.

UAE was built through development focused leadership. So was Singapore. When any country gets too much into the politics of extremism, it will lead to the economic destruction of that state. Hence Qatar is also on the pathway of self destruction just like Iran and Pakistan who have already undergone economic suffering. Only oil and clever politics is keeping Qatar still rich. Turkey is on the same path of economic self destruction because under Erdogan, religion has a strong influence on their country’s politics.

I can’t help but compare Pakistan and Bangladesh. Both were part of British India and have the same Muslims. One country (Pakistan) is still obsessed with Kashmir and destroying India to the point of going nuclear. However, Bangladesh has settled its borders with India and is on the path of development. Today Pakistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and a terrorist haven that also once housed Osama Bin Laden whether knowingly or not. But Bangladesh has started to prosper.

The Palestinians can cry as much as they want but they still know that the best quality of life in the middle east is in Israel. Its not in Jordan or Syria or Lebanon or Kuwait from where they were expelled or treated like 2nd class citizens. Its about time they learn from Israel’s economic growth versus continuing to try to wipe out Israel.