Back in 1988, Commentary magazine had a symposium of intellectuals discussing Israel. One of the contributors, Edward Rothstein, observed that when he drove by Judea and Samaria he was amazed by the number of TV antennas shaped like the Eiffel tower, a sign that the Palestinians were not suffering nearly as much as advertised.
More recently (March, 2007) Shiloh Musings photographed quite a few mansions going up in the Palestinian areas north of Jerusalem.
That not all Palestinians live lives of quiet desperation, is a revelation to quite a few people, especially “journalists.” Karin Laub, for one, finds it amazing that Munib Masri has built himself a mansion.
Masri’s villa sits atop Mount Gerizim, considered sacred by the Samaritans, an ancient sect that practices an offshoot of Judaism and whose descendants live nearby.
The mansion is an exact copy of a famous 16th-century villa, known as “La Rotonda,” built by Italian architect Andrea Palladio. It is capped by a rotunda and has temple fronts with columns on four sides.
Construction began in 1998, with most material imported from France in 200 40-foot shipping containers. The work continued after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, and at the height of fighting, Israeli tanks took up positions on his property for a while, Masri said.
But as Barry Rubin points out, Masri’s wealth wasn’t just the result of hard work. As the article mentions, without elaborating, Masri held a telecommunications monopoly. Rubin explains.
We are not told from whence this monopoly came—from the PA. The word corruption is never mentioned. Such a lack of curiosity about the sources of his wealth does not accord with journalistic practices in covering other stories.
Indeed, the story of the telecommunications monopoly is one of the best-known stories of corruption among Palestinians. How PA and Fatah factions competed over the loot, how Arafat intervened directly into the issue.
(Indeed the best off among the Palestinians have benefited from monopolies, see The Man who Swallowed Gaza and How Important is the PLO. Michael Kelly’s Investing in Yasser Arafat illustrates a similar point.)
Rubin’s point is that Laub shouldn’t be focusing on the contrast between Mr. Masri and other Palestinians, or between his success and the “occupation.” Rather Laub – and other reporters – should be focusing on how Masri obtained his wealth and how that illustrates the failure of the so-called “peace process.” Dr. Rubin includes some points to consider:
–The Palestinian upper economic and political class cares nothing for its own people.
–In its fourteen-year rule of the West Bank, the PA has focused on looting it rather than on raising living standards and providing good government.
–Billions of dollars in international aid donations have disappeared, probably paying for a large portion of Masri’s mansion.
–The PA’s failures are blamed on Israel both by the PA itself, Western governments, and the international media.
–Palestinian suffering is not primarily due to Israel but to their own leaders.
–A lot of Israel’s success has been due to Jews around the world making both investments and donations. Palestinians have not been forthcoming in supporting their own “state,†a point well-known in Palestinian circles. (An exception here, of course, is in backing Hamas’s terrorist campaign in recent years.)
–Anyone who keeps their eyes open will see other huge, albeit less impressive than this one, mansions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Even other members of Masri’s own family have been criticized for their ostentation. While this estate may be the most extreme case, it is hardly an exception in that regard.
–Wealthy Palestinians do not give charity to help their poorer cousins. The PA doesn’t even have a comprehensive tax system. Thus, the international community is left to support the Palestinians, and their oversized security apparatus.
–Violence sponsored by the PA was responsible for destroying the chance for their people to work in Israel, hitherto a major aid to their economy; the destruction of infrastructure; and the hesitation of investors, who are also put off by the PA’s corruption and incompetence.
–Intransigence and the failure to reach a compromise solution stem from the Palestinian leadership, including Masri’s buddy, Arafat.
This isn’t the first time that Barry Rubin has criticized Karin Laub’s tendentious reporting. It unfortunately likely won’t be the last either.
Daled Amos has commented on a related issue, illegal building by Palestinians.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
There’s even more. I lived for the better part of two years on a kibbutz southeast of Haifa, on the route from the West Bank. I’d often catch a bus or jitney coming from the territories. There might be an occasional identity check but basically access to Haifa, its shops, and its jobs, was easy.
After nineteen years of less than benign neglect under Jordan, the West Bank had one of the highest economic growth rates in the world. By every social reckoning–education, health, infrasturcture–the West Bank and to a slightly lesser extent Gaza enjoyed an ever-increasing growth in both economy and social well-being.
And the Palestinians, the leadership and the rank and file, threw it away, threw it away happily, never letting their self-interest interfere with their desire to destroy Israel.
Let the enjoy the fruits of their labors.
The Palestinian upper economic and political class cares nothing for its own people.
–In its fourteen-year rule of the West Bank, the PA has focused on looting it rather than on raising living standards and providing good government.
Heh! Just change names and places and that could be said about the South African government as well.
Alex,
Until 2000 Saturdays in Jenin were crowded with Israeli shoppers buying stuff, fixing cars, eating in restaurants.
During the week Northern Israel was swarming with Palestinian taxis, trucks and private cars. They were on a roll and didn’t know it.