Daily Alert Archives

Demography and Demagoguery

(Ha'aretz) Uzi Arad- For the last decade, all Israeli governments have been implementing political disengagement from the Palestinian population of the territories. The cities and towns of the West Bank and Gaza have long since been evacuated. The number of Palestinians between the river and sea is no longer relevant to Israel being a Jewish democratic state. There is no point in waving around an apocalyptic demographic scenario from which Israel already extricated itself. If the Palestinians do not restrain their demographic growth, the apocalypse could very well be theirs. A population that doubles itself every generation and is unable to grow its economy at a pace that keeps up with the demographic growth rate is dooming itself to ever worsening poverty and backwardness. While the current birth rate in Gaza is 6.6, in Egypt it has dropped to 2.9. The international institutions that support the Palestinians would do well by linking their support to more effective family planning among Palestinians, as was demanded of Egypt. The writer is Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy at Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center.
2004-08-06 00:00:00
Full Article