Ynet News reports:
"The study also showed that Jerusalem's Palestinian residents were interested in keeping their Israeli Identity cards and enjoying the State's health and social benefits. Some 35% of them said that Israeli citizenship is their preferred citizenship and only 30% chose to be citizens of the future Palestinian state. An additional 30% said that they didn't know, or preferred not to answer the question.And what would the neighbors say? When asked "if most people in your neighborhood” would prefer to become citizens of Palestine or of Israel: 31% estimated that most people prefer Palestinian citizenship; 39% estimated that most people prefer Israeli citizenship; and 30% declined to answer or said they didn’t know."
The poll has shocked a lot of people, even me. Still, it's a testament to the fact that people abroad make the conflict out a lot worse than it actually is, that they respond a lot more radically than most of the people in the thick of it.
I wonder what the anti-Zionists will say about this one.
2 comments:
Perhaps it's because Israel was founded by Europeans, so its legal system leans towards western-style civil liberties and not Islamic ones? Or maybe it's because Israel receives huge amounts of subsidies from the US so it has the resources to create a higher standard of living?
The reason for my skepticism draws on the fact that "western culture is better" has been used to justify everything from invasions to slavery to genocide. Go talk to an anthropologist and ask that person to "rank cultures". Chances are that person will look at you like you have three heads.
Let's be clear about one thing: "we" are not the state. The State (whether it's Israel, the US, or an Arab country) does not represent the population it rules but rather the small elite.
http://c4ss.org/content/5959
Invasions, slavery, genocide, and everything in between are by no means exclusive to Western culture. Look at Sudan and Darfur. Look at almost every Arab/Islamic country in existence today. These things have nothing to do with Western culture; they have to do with the fact that Wetsern/non-Western cultures are run by humans.
"The State (whether it's Israel, the US, or an Arab country) does not represent the population it rules but rather the small elite."
This is true only to an extent. Even if we hold it to be 100% true, then it just means that the small elite share certain beliefs and convictions with the population (i.e. religious beliefs, which account for Islamic law being implemented in a wide variety of Arab countries).
I'm not entirely sure what it is you're skeptical about. The point of the article is that these Arabs, belonging to a people who have an enormous track record of hating on Israel for both legitimate and nonsensical reasons, who live in one of the most contested areas of the Conflict, prefer Israel's lifestyle to the Palestinian alternative.
This tears a gaping hole in the claims of "genocide, apartheid, second-class citizens," and whatever else the anti-Zionist community likes to throw at Israel.
"Or maybe it's because Israel receives huge amounts of subsidies from the US so it has the resources to create a higher standard of living?"
This is probably true in part. Israel definitely has a higher standard of living, no doubt, and as this poll shows, it doesn't withhold it from people based on religion or race. Arabs enjoy it just as much as Jews do, or this poll wouldn't have the figures it does.
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