February 12, 2009
In the recent Israeli elections, the moderate Kadina party won one more seat in the Israeli Knesset or parliament than the right-wing Likud Party. Israel will end up either with a right-wing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, which is not interested in peace negotiations with the Palestinians, or a weakened right-wing leaning party led by Tzipi Livni’s Kadina Party. Whoever wins, meaningful peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians is greatly diminished.
For years, it was conventional wisdom that you needed political stability to have steady economic growth. However, Israel has turned this conventional wisdom on its head. Israeli occupies Gaza and the West Bank, engages in violence with the Palestinians, is experiencing political turmoil, yet the country is experiencing an economic boom. How? In her book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein posits that Israel’s embrace of disaster capitalism has diminished the need for it to engage in meaningful peace negotiations with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors.
According to Klein, Israel has exploited the chaos by pioneering a successful defense and home security-related economy and thus, enjoys a booming prosperity while it is in conflict with its neighbors. Thus, according to Klein, it could be said that Israel’s economy is based on the prospect of continual conflict and deepening disasters.
Today, Israel is the leading source of home security gadgetry and anti-terrorist technologies. Israel has over 600 security and homeland-security related companies. In 2006, Israel exported $3.4 billion in defense products — well over a billion more than it received in U.S. military aid. That makes Israel the fourth-largest arms dealer in the world. By the end of this year, Israeli exports in the sector may reach $1.2 billion. The key products and services are high-tech fences, unmanned drones, biometric IDs, video and audio surveillance gear, air passenger profiling and prisoner interrogation systems, precisely the tools and technologies Israel has used to lock in the occupied territories.
How does Israel’s burgeoning economic boom relate to the prospects for meaningful peace negotiations? According to Klein, at one time, Israel needed the Palestinians as a cheap source of labor. However, after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, about 700,000 Russians immigrated to Israel, now making up about 15 percent of the working age population. This influx of new labor made the Palestinians surplus humanity. In 1993, Israel began its closure of the occupied territories. The closure was supposed to be temporary. This changed after September 11, 2001, when the rise of Israel’s high tech industry began. This corresponded with its diminished need to have friendly relations with its Arab neighbors. Israel is now a fortified gated community, surrounded by locked out people. Gaza and the West Bank are now surplus humanity.
Further, Israel’s vulnerability is largely a myth. Israel has a nuclear monopoly in the region. Although, this would change if Iran develops a nuclear capability. Otherwise, Israel has a military superiority vis-a-vis any possible coalition of Arab forces. It has the fourth largest air force in the world after the U.S., Russia, and China. It is the only state in the region with its own defense industry. It has the most modern military in the region with well-trained personnel. And finally, it has an unwritten alliance with the United States.
Thus, Klein argues that in spite of Israeli’s political dysfunctions, a continued war on terror is good for Israel’s defense and home security-related industries. And Israel has less incentive to engage in meaningful peace negotiations with the Palestinians and its other Arab neighbors. As Klein observed, the “Apartheid” Wall serves at least two purposes: to keep the Palestinians caged in and to advertise its defense and home security-related industries.
Naomi Klein’s analysis is controversial to be sure. You may not agree with her, but it is clear that President Obama will find it difficult to broker a meaningful Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, especially when one of the parties has little incentive to do so.
More Info
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
The Hunger Site
February 13, 2009 at 9:44 am
I highly recommend readers watch journalist Alison Weir explain her analysis of US media coverage of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. According to Weir, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, ABC, NBC, CBS and NPR routinely engages in false reporting – and “lieing by omission” – the number of Palestinian deaths at the hands of the Israeli military.
http://fogblog.tumblr.com/
The bottom line: the mainstream corporate US media engages in propaganda to distort the truth about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Australian journalist John Pilger explains this in greater detail (also available at the link above).
February 13, 2009 at 9:21 am
On the other hand, who is Israel supposed to negotiate with? Hamas and Hezbollah, both dedicated to the destruction of Israel? Iran, whose president has vowed to wipe Israel off the map? Israel withdraws from Lebanon, and Hezbollah showers it with rockets. Israel withdraws from Gaza, and Hamas showers it with thousands of rockets. The moral of the story: Palestinians and the Islamist crackpots evidently don’t want peace with Israel.