Israeli report: The cost of occupation

[azurnoir]

A new report by an Israeli information center details the government’s “guns over butter” financial policy, saying it has contributed to ever-increasing poverty in Israel.

The report by the Avda center, which monitors equality and social justice in Israel, acknowledged that Palestinians pay the highest price, subject to Israeli military rule, unable to develop economically, reliant on donors, and vulnerable to violence, arrest, expulsion, humiliation in their homes, on their streets and at roadblocks

However, it found that Israelis’ illusion that they live in a “normal country” is dependent on “a thick curtain of isolation based on physical separation and on a heavy military presence in the Palestinian territories.”

Economically, the report found the conflict with Palestinians is hindering Israeli aspirations to reach the living standards enjoyed by Europeans and Americans. Avda reported that Israel’s war on Gaza, which began December 2008, cost five billion shekels (around $1.3 billion). Further, in the aftermath of the war, tourism in Israel declined significantly.

The report noted that Israel, a country blessed with countless tourist attractions, attracted fewer tourists than its neighboring countries, Jordan, Morocco, or Egypt.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=299868

This is part of the report, it is a Google translation

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=iw&u=http://www.adva.org/&ei=BWg_TMmpE8ijnQePoIz2BA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAdva%2BCenter%2BIsrael%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DZDV%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official

eta on a test you have to scroll down the page a bit