Until recently I hadn’t given much though to the Israeli/Palestinian struggle. I was content to play the part of Ignorant American (as many others have been as well). However, today I found an astonishing article outlining what I believe to be the reason the Palestinians (and Arabs in general) are upset at Americans as well as Israelis about the Palestinian struggle. Read on for more …
The article I’m talking about can be found here.
The article goes over the monetary aid given to Israel by the US since it’s creation.
… Israel received $62.5 billion in foreign aid from fiscal year 1949 through fiscal year 1996 … in precisely the same 1949-1996 time frame, the total of U.S. foreign aid to all of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined was $62,497,800,000 … with a combined population of 486 million, all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean together had received $38,254,400,000. This amounted to $79 per person … The per capita U.S. foreign aid to Israel’s 5.8 million people during the same period was $10,775.48. This meant that for every dollar the U.S. spent on an African, it spent $250.65 on an Israeli, and for every dollar it spent on someone from the Western Hemisphere outside the United States, it spent $214 on an Israeli.”
As an American tax payer (yes I pay taxes – lots of taxes) I’m outraged. I can easily see that Israeli citizens live rather decently, as outlined in the article.
“Israel’s 1995 per capita gross domestic product was $15,800. That put it below Britain at $19,500 and Italy at $18,700 and just above Ireland at $15,400 and Spain at $14,300.”
I did some digging and found the average per capita income in Kenya is roughly $350.00. Is something drastically wrong here? I would say so. I may not agree with how some of the fanatics try to reason with the US and its allies (ie. bombs), but I can definately see why they’re a little pissed about the subject. I recommend contacting your congressman (or woman) and complaining about how much money we give this already rich country.