United Nations agencies have long warned that it could take decades to rebuild Gaza after Israel’s offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns since World War II.Now, more than a year into the war, a new report speaks in terms of centuries.The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in a report released Monday that if the war ends tomorrow and Gaza returns to the status quo before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, it could take 350 years for its battered economy to return to its precarious prewar level.
How can any thinking person report this without laughing?
Los Angeles is more than triple the size of Gaza. It was founded in 1781, less than 250 years ago. Gaza could be leveled to a parking lot and be built better than ever in decades - if Hamas wasn't running the sector and if Gazans wanted to have peace with Israel.
Sure enough, the September 10 report says:
Therefore, once a ceasefire is reached, a return to the pre-October 2023 status quo would not put Gaza on the path needed for recovery and sustainable development. UNCTAD estimates that, if the 2007–2022 growth trend returns, with an average growth rate of 0.4 per cent, it will take Gaza 350 years just to restore the GDP levels of 2022, with GDP per capita continuously and precipitously falling, driven by population growth. This underscores the urgency of a political horizon leading to a two-State solution and significant economic support by the international community to facilitate recovery from the immense damage caused by the war.
Even these assumptions are based on a biased choice of GDP data.
In 2021 and 2022, Hamas was pretending to not want war with Israel and to act pragmatically for the good of Gaza citizens. It appeared to be making moves to stop terror rockets by other groups. As a result, Israel responded by loosening up restrictions on Gaza's economy, increasing imports and giving Gazans jobs in Israel. If you look at those two years before October 7, Gaza's GDP went up by an average of 5.5% a year, not the 0.4% that UNCTAD is basing its entire 30 estimate on.
Instantly, the 350 year estimate goes down to 13.5 years. And that is without a "two state solution."
The West Bank's GDP growth also has gone up about 4-5% annually from 2007-2022, without a two state solution.
So why is UNCTAD fixated on the two state solution rather than having governance in Gaza that is not focused on murdering Jews?
Perhaps because UNCTAD has no problem with murdering Jews. They just don't want Israel to respond - because that response is, according to them, the driving factor behind Gaza's poor economy.
It is a ridiculous and ultimately antisemitic viewpoint. Stop terror and Gaza can be a success story, just as it could have been in 2005 when Israel withdrew from the sector. UNCTAD cannot seem to draw that simple conclusion.
|
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
|
