Mindset Trumps Economics
Reader comment on item: Will Palestinian Prosperity End the Arab-Israeli Conflict?

Submitted by dds (Canada), Dec 30, 2005 at 12:37

Can anyone offer an example where an economic solution to a struggle between ethnic groups has been the panacea? Poverty and lack of opportunity are only the symptoms, but the disease is rooted much deeper than that.

Affirmative action certainly has had some outward benefits in the black-white race relations in the US, but the rich-poor divide is still largely color-based. Hurricane Katrina was a stark reminder of that. There are also parts of US cities where it's not advisable for white people to walk, and black people still face glass ceilings and glass walls in many institutions. In Canada, there have been multi-million-dollar land claim settlements involving Natives, but you'll still find a higher proportion of natives on Vancouver's Downtown East Side than in the British Properties. Until the mind-set is dealt with -- and until we stop thinking that giving one group the material wealth they apparently lack -- no "road map" will lead anywhere.

"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers ..." the Apostle Paul wrote. All of these conflicts are based not in an economic issue but one of the spirit. The solution is really found in the Two Great Commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. It may not be a quick fix, but it will be a lasting one, which lays the axe to the root. Remember: God provides solutions -- the devil suggests short-cuts.

By the way, my understanding is that much of the land Israel "occupied" in the 1967 war was primarily unproductive desert. Then it started producing when the Israelis settled there. It will be interesting to see how much longer it remains productive, now that it's in Palestinian hands. Of course, if it does suddenly turn barren again, the Israelies will likely be accused of salting the land, the way the Romans did with Carthage, which would then lead to more recriminations and terrorism ...

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