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What Israel Needs (Arab Prosperity)

Miami Herald 4/22/05

Arab prosperity urgently needed BY FRIDA GHITIS

Can Israel become one of the world's most prosperous economies? Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seldom at a loss for words, has just declared that Israel will have the strongest economic growth in the West over the next couple of years. His goal, he said, is to create the economic conditions to make Israel's standard of living among the world's top 10 in the coming decade.

Perhaps Netanyahu, with his acknowledged political ambitions, can bring about this Holy Land miracle. But what Israel really needs is prosperity to take hold among its neighboring Arab countries.

Israelis should fervently wish for the stagnant economies of the Middle East to prosper; for well-being to reign among their former and current Arab enemies, and for unstable, political pressure-cookers in the region to become free and thriving societies. This wish would not represent some sort of altruistic, New Age or Biblical Age sign of spiritual sacrifice. No. Arab prosperity is the most urgent need Israel has today.

A wealthy nation

Consider the situation: Israel finds itself surrounded by economies that cannot provide jobs for millions of young and energetic individuals. Cross the border from Israel into Egypt, Jordan or Syria, and the standard of living drops precipitously. Per-capita income in Israel approaches $20,000 per year, depending on how it is calculated. That places it well in the range of wealthy nations, comparable to that of Greece, Spain or Portugal. By contrast, Egypt, Jordan and Syria have incomes well below $5,000.
Incomes in the Palestinian Territories amount to a fraction of that.

The enormous disparity is not only a dangerous irritant, creating resentment in the region, but it also acts as an accelerant to the so-called ''demographic time bomb,'' one of the greatest threats Israel faces today.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to pull out of the occupied Gaza strip in large part because the demographic threat became inescapable. Palestinians have much higher birth rates than Israelis. If Israel continues to hold on to the territories, Jews risk becoming a minority in their own land. And, as long as all the jobs remain in Israel, Palestinians, seething in their impoverished neighborhoods, with or without statehood, will demand the right to -- at the very least -- work in Israel.

But what if suddenly Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries become thriving, prosperous, democratic societies, with well-educated and skilled professionals competing for interesting, well-paying and abundant jobs? Israel would become just another well-off country. And if a Palestinian State, too, became a stable, democratic nation, free of government corruption, prosperity would flourish there, too, with enormous benefits for every country in the area. With regional development, Palestinians and other Arabs would find opportunities to work in different parts of the Middle East. The demands for a return to Israel proper from exiled Palestinians would be eased by the attractiveness of other possibilities for a good life, making a compromise on the issue much more likely. In the midst of these flourishing societies, birth rates, now far higher in virtually all Arab lands than in Israel, would surely drop, and the potential for violent conflict would fade.

Political reforms

Back to reality. This vision of regional bliss barely qualifies today as a mirage in the dry desert. Some argue -- incorrectly -- that peace between Israelis and Palestinians is a prerequisite to real change in the Middle East. Economic and political reforms can, should and are being pushed by idealists in many Arab countries, even as the peace process struggles to get underway.

In Israel, Netanyahu has surprised even his critics with some bold and effective reforms to the economy. Perhaps, in this original land of miracles, Israel will dazzle the doubters and rise to the top echelons of economic success. The government has a duty to try. But what Israelis, Palestinians and all the people of the Middle East really need is prosperity, freedom and well-being for Israelis and Arabs alike.

Frida Ghitis, a television journalist for 20 years, writes about world affairs

John Paul the Not-So-Great

Posted on Sun, Apr. 10, 2005

John Paul II
A charismatic and flawed figure
By Frida Ghitis

Like millions of people across the globe, I had the privilege of witnessing the charisma of John Paul II in action. I covered some of his international travels and attended at least half a dozen of his gigantic public events. I, too, came away moved by his magnetism and unexpectedly charmed by his sense of humor.

That's why the words I heard only days after one of those events all but knocked the air out of me.

I was on pope duty when a powerful earthquake struck Colombia. I was sent to cover the aftermath and arrived there with John Paul's image still vividly in my mind. Seeing the quake's survivors reach for comfort in their faith, I happened to mention to a local activist that I had just seen the pope.

"The pope?" she repeated, shaking her head only slightly. "That horrible, horrible man."

With commentators today exhausting every superlative to describe the late pontiff's greatness, it turns out there are many who think this was John Paul the Not-So-Great.

The Colombian activist told me stories from her work -- stories of desperate women living in poverty with violent men, enduring pregnancy after pregnancy, beating after beating, and afraid to change their lives because the pope unequivocally said that contraception and divorce went against God's will.

John Paul II mesmerized those who saw him. He spoke forcefully for the dignity of all men. But this champion of compassion also spoke forcefully against the use of condoms, even as AIDS killed tens of millions.
Stop for a moment and picture the lives of 12 million children orphaned by AIDS. Twelve million, and the pope would not relent. Because condoms might encourage sex, and the church cannot countenance sex except to make more babies, no matter how many babies already live without parents or without enough food, clothing or shelter.

When American Catholics discovered to their horror that the church in the United States had become a criminal pedophilia ring, with hundreds of priests victimizing thousands of children, John Paul II expressed his "sense of solidarity" with the victims -- and proceeded to protect the perpetrators.

The pontiff deserves praise for his achievements. He spoke in favor of the powerless and the dispossessed; he atoned for some of the church's sins, and he played a key role in ending communism.

But this champion of human rights also warmly, inexcusably, welcomed Saddam Hussein's deputy, Tariq Aziz, to the Vatican, lavishing attention on a key member of a regime that tortured and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of its citizens and started wars that killed more than a million people.

This was accepted as a symbol of the pontiff's opposition to the Iraq war. John Paul II also tried to stop NATO's intervention in Bosnia, even as millions of civilians there pleaded for help.

The pope rightly apologized for some of the actions -- or inaction -- of the church during the Holocaust.

But he praised Pope Pius XII's immoral silence as the leader who said nothing while the Nazis systematically murdered millions. And he bestowed honors upon Kurt Waldheim, the former Austrian president and U.N. Secretary-general, an active accomplice to that genocide. The honors came years after the discovery of Waldheim's past as a Nazi officer who participated in massacres of civilians and deportations to Nazi death camps.

The mild criticism of the pope that we hear usually centers on philosophical issues, such as his opposition to stem cell research, women in the priesthood or gay marriage. But his impact was felt in the mundane.
Like other masterful politicians, he could charm even those who disagreed with his policies and the impact of his actions.

As John Paul's unstoppable apotheosis proceeds, many who despise his views still venerate him, as if somehow the man and his actions could be separated.

Centuries from now, however, another pope propably will offer apologies for some of the church's actions during the reign of the charismatic -- and imperfect -- Pope John Paul II.

Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs