Bryan Caplan has some unanswered questions for the Palestinians Joe Sacco interviewed for his graphic novel on their plight:
- You’re too weak to beat the Israelis. Why don’t you just submit? (And if they responded, “Would you?,” I’d say “I already do. I think taxation is theft, but I also have the wisdom to realize that the IRS will make my life a living hell if I resist.”)
- The Israelis could easily have killed or exiled every Palestinian. Why didn’t they? What does that say about their objective function – and/or the objection functions of other Western countries that put pressure on Israel?
- Suppose all the Jews left Israel tomorrow. What would greater Palestine’s GDP per capita be ten years from now? Want to bet on that?
- Suppose all the Jews left Israel tomorrow. How many Palestinians would still die violent deaths during the next ten years? How many political prisoners will there be in ten years? Want to bet on that?
I realize, of course, that these are insensitive questions to ask someone who spent years in an Israeli prison for a crime he didn’t commit. But I’d still like some honest answers.
The comments are lively:
You appear to be woefully ignorant of the history of Palestine. In short, there was nothing there, until the Jews began to migrate there in the late 19th century.Many famous people traveled to Palestine in the 19th century, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Gustave Flaubert. All agreed it was a lawless wasteland. Which is pretty much why the Turks allowed the Jews in; they (correctly) thought that the Jews would develop it economically.
The great travel agent/entrepreneur, Thomas Cook had to take everything with him for his Tours of the Holy Land. Food, utensils, stoves, tents, bedding, armed guards…the works.
Take a look at a map and see how tiny a sliver of land Israel is compared to what surrounds them. 5 million Jews living in a few square miles can’t be the reason the Arab world is such a mess.