Martin, Your comment parallels a similar comment I read on the American Spectator called "the Economics of Settlement".
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/06/08/the-economics-of-settlement It documents the Jewish settlement of Palestine. Basically before the Jews came, the land was a barren wasteland barely able to sustain the Palestinian population, such that they died young and their populations never grew past 300 000. The Jews came and bought the "worthless" for a higher price than it was worth and the over time the Palestinians prospered because of the Jewish settlements. But once they saw what the Jews had done (built skyscrapers, factories, etc.) they all of a sudden felt like they were ripped off. Rather than being grateful to the Jews for increasing their standard of living and life expectancy, some among them are insisting it is better to be poor and destitute then live under the Jews. Wouldn't it be far better to stick with the issue of metrication rather than introducing ill-informed opinion such as this? ----- Original Message ----- From: Kilopascal To: [email protected] ; U.S. Metric Association Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 2:22 AM Subject: [USMA:50632] Re: Fwd: Birmingham Mail article Martin, Your comment parallels a similar comment I read on the American Spectator called "the Economics of Settlement". http://spectator.org/archives/2011/06/08/the-economics-of-settlement It documents the Jewish settlement of Palestine. Basically before the Jews came, the land was a barren wasteland barely able to sustain the Palestinian population, such that they died young and their populations never grew past 300 000. The Jews came and bought the "worthless" for a higher price than it was worth and the over time the Palestinians prospered because of the Jewish settlements. But once they saw what the Jews had done (built skyscrapers, factories, etc.) they all of a sudden felt like they were ripped off. Rather than being grateful to the Jews for increasing their standard of living and life expectancy, some among them are insisting it is better to be poor and destitute then live under the Jews. Excerpt: The "natural resources" denied to Arabs in Israel, according to Raja Khalidi, turn out to be resources of land. After they sold it to Jewish settlers, they suffered sellers' remorse. Apparently, they did not anticipate that the land could yield the region's most fertile farms or could give birth to skyscrapers and high-technology factories. Why didn't anyone tell them? Now they want it back, along with the skyscrapers and factories. The problem is Khalidi's own attitude, which echoes the view of Arab leader Musa Alami, meeting with David Ben-Gurion in 1934. When Ben-Gurion told him that Zionism "would bring a blessing to the Arabs of Palestine, and they have no good cause to oppose us," Alami retorted, "I would prefer that the country remain impoverished and barren for another hundred years, until we ourselves are able to develop it on our own." This sentiment continues today under Hamas. In 2005, when Israelis actually relinquished their advanced greenhouses and irrigation equipment in Gaza, the leaders of Hamas ordered many of these facilities destroyed. Some things never change. On April 9, 2011, the PLO's chief representative in the U.S., Maen Areikat, told the Jewish Forward: "Palestinians are not after improving their condition of living. Our real problem is ending the occupation" -- getting rid of those dastardly settlers! You see Martin, there really are people who are suppose to lead a nation down the right path but out of some hatred, they choose to destroy that which would bring a nation forward. Eventually history will correct itself and the people who are suffering will rise up and people like Nattrass will find themselves hanging from the lamp posts. Hopefully though the revolution won't come to late to repair the damage they do. [USMA:50632] Re: Fwd: Birmingham Mail article Martin Vlietstra Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:22:03 -0700 Ezra, Mike Nattrass (who was widely quoted in the article) is a UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) MEP (Member of the European Parliament) - the UKIP's main policy is to take the UK out of the EU. Regrettably many in the UKIP regard the destruction of what is left of any numeracy skills in the UK as a price worth paying for the UK to leave the EU.
