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| Nonprofit founded in 1988 |
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Non-sustainable Development Development in some parts of the world is in reverse, particularly in Palestine. Houses and families are destroyed due to Israeli military/expansionist policy, simplified as a many decades-long land grab. One practice used in the West Bank settlement-strategy by Israel is the destruction of Palestinian homes that the owners allegedly modify without hard-to-get permits. Some world observers ascribe the decades-long violence, in large part, to the effects of U.S. aid and arms/intelligence deals. Understandably, counter-terrorism or terrorism by Palestinians offends much of the world. People on both sides are reaping what they are sowing. Some history of the countries' relationship is of interest, partially recounted below. However, we must not remain 100% immersed in our perceptions of ongoing, inevitable conflict as to specific who-did-whats. Rather, we must keep in mind what the governments and corporate news media never mention: overpopulationówhich is worsening almost everywhere as you read thisóleads to pressures that make it hard to solve problems and plan sensibly. Energy usage and water usage are considerably less per capita in Palestine and Israel than in the profligate USA, but pressures are clearly escalating. Acts of aggression and collateral damage are symptoms, no matter where they occur. Rats in a cage is an apt analogy for modern humanity's condition amidst overcrowding. Are the names so importantóMr. Tough Rat?ó in a given conflict, that no government or news media corporation ever points out that we are in a situation much like too many rats in a small cage? Too many rats in the cage spells violence and has other negative results. In humans' version of rats-in-a-cage, the phenomenon of gangsterism is included. Gangsterism has more polite names that also involve patriotism and armed force. In addition to society's need for more equitable structuring and treatment of people and all other species, population size must be stabilized now and decreased peacefully over time. From the bestseller Dangerous Liaison: "Israel's lobby in the United States reacted to Eisenhower's initiative with public outrage, while [prime minister] Ben-Gurion darkly hinted at Foster Dulles' supposed anti-Semitism. In the Truman days it had been possible to circumvent hostility from elsewhere in the bureaucracy by doing an end run through the White House. Those days were past for the moment. The Israeli government was not sure that pressure from the American Jewish community would be enough to bail it out, either politically or economically. Moshe Sharett, the foreign minister, recorded a gloomy cabinet meeting summoned to assess the damage two days after Dulles made the aid cutoff official. 'Princhas Saphir [the finance minister] presented a program for a $50 million cut in the budget; $18 million would be raised in cash from Jews. Golda and Yossi predicted, "The American Jews always give more in times of crisis." I said to Ben-Gurion, "It depends what caused the trouble." Later Gus [an American who worked in Ben-Gurion's office as an economics adviser] confirmed that a crisis in relations between Israel and the U.S. government would not encourage American Jews to donate.' "It took only eight days for the Israelis to cave in on the water project, whereupon aid was resumed. It was one of the rare instances when an American president had used the lever of American financial support. The effect had been immediate and devastating..." From Dangerous Liaison - The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship, by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, published by HarperCollins, 1991 See Culture Change's dispatches from international editor Pincas Jawetz online at www.culturechange.org/worldsummit.htm See Culture Change Letter's Late August 2002 edition #4: Where Lies Failure of the World Summit on Sustainable Development |
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