Breaking the terrorist habit in the Middle East

Turning Abbas's logic on its head | Jerusalem Post: "To begin, some basic facts about the Palestinian economy, drawing on a fine survey by Ziv Hellman, 'Terminal Situation,' in the Dec. 24 issue of Jerusalem Report:

# Palestinian per year per-capita income has contracted by about 40 percent since its $2,000 peak in 1992 (before the Oslo process began) to less than $1,200 now.

# Per-capita Israeli income, 10 times greater than the Palestinians' in 1967 is now 23 times greater.

# Deep poverty has increased in Gaza from 22 percent of the population in 1998 to nearly 35 percent in 2006; it would be about 67 percent if not for remittances and food aid.

# Direct foreign investment barely exists, while local capital mostly gets sent abroad or is invested in real estate or short-term trading.

# The Palestinian Authority economy, Hellman writes, 'is largely based on monopolies in various industries granted by PA officials in exchange for kickbacks.'

# The PA's payroll is so bloated that the cost of wages alone exceeds all revenues.

# A dysfunctional judicial system in the PA means armed gangs usually decide commercial disputes.

UNSURPRISINGLY, Hellman characterizes the Palestinian economy as 'in shambles.' Such shambles should come as no surprise, for as the late Lord Bauer and"