Obama Says Israel’s Prosperity Obstructs Peace
By Edward Hudgins

March 31, 2016 -- President Obama seems to blame the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict on, of all things, Israel’s prosperity. Not only is Obama wrong. If he understood the moral source of Israel’s affluence, he’d understand the avenue to peace.
 

Israel's economic strength 

Asked at a town hall meeting about that conflict, the president replied that “in some ways because Israeli society has been so successful economically, it has I think from a position of strength been less willing to make concessions. On the other hand, the Palestinians because of weakness have not had the political cohesion and organization to enter into negotiations and feel like they can get what they need.”

Is Obama right? To answer this question, we need to step back and look at some basic facts.
 

The values of Israel

Jews began coming to what was then Turkish-governed (later British-governed) Palestine in the late 1880s. Those from Eastern Europe were escaping the ghettos into which they were confined and subjected to periodic pogroms. Those from Western Europe saw continued anti-Semitism and their legal rights of citizenship as too tenuous a protection for their lives. The fears of those Zionists were proven all too right by Hitler and his henchmen. After World War II, Holocaust survivors sought refuge in Palestine.

Once in Palestine, Jews worked what some called a miracle. They purchased land, created settlements, introduced advanced agricultural and irrigation practices, and literally made the desert bloom. They founded Tel Aviv as a modern, Westernized city. Indeed, today Israeli firms and entrepreneurs are cutting-edge techno-leaders: “Silicon Wadi” is that country’s equivalent of Silicon Valley.

In other words, the two top values defining Israeli society are life and productive achievement.
 

The values of Palestinians

When Israel declared itself a country per a United Nations resolution, David Ben Gurion promised the new state “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants... (Continue reading here.)