Quote:
Boxcar,
The ball is in Israels court. It will have to accept that it is a part of the middle east, and integrate itself, within the middle east. Frankly the Arabs (and they are historically traders) will accept Israel only if they see it as a viable trading partner. That will lead to far greater acceptance of Israel than any "land for peace".
|
What do you mean by accepting that it is part of the middle east and integrating itself? What is Israel doing now that conflicts with those aims?
Quote:
|
And the Arabs have god knows few virtues today, and but patience is one of them, and they have calculated that Israel cannot last long in the present economic status quo, needing US aid and Free Trade concessions (not to mention Indo-Pak rivalry) to survive. Looking at it dispassionatly, such a state cannot survive more than a couple of generations.
|
The only danger to Israel today is demographic, not economic. Trade with the EU and US has been sufficient for Israeli growth, although they now have significant trade ties with Eastern Europe and East Asia as well. Trade with the Arabs would be great, but if they don't want to, Israel can certainly survive, as its economy is almost the same size as Egypt's, Jordan's, Syria's, and Lebanon's put togethor ($148 billion = Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, $121 billion = Israel [both figures are at official exchange rates]). Oh, and Israel does have full economic relations with Egypt and Jordan, although many of their firms choose not to do business with Israel.