The Squalor of Dependency

How can a people that has never fended for itself as a responsible social community have any pride in itself? A population such as that of the Palestinian people living in Gaza which has for 60 years been wholly dependent on hand-outs from the United Nations and the European Union among other pity-sources, has resigned itself to poverty of spirit, lack of enterprise; consigned itself to a life of misery.

People require the challenge of independence, of responsibility for themselves, to rise to the occasion to eke out a living wage however they can. When an entire population has beggared itself, convinced itself that the world owes it the means by which it can shelter itself, feed itself, medicate itself, educate its children, the end result is bitterness and misery.

Who would choose that way of life? Certainly no self-respecting individuals, let alone an entire population. Allowing themselves to sink into utter hopelessness and evincing all the hallmarks of helpless infants cast adrift to find their way in an alien and bleak world, the Palestinians of Gaza - far more than those of the West Bank; but they too - have consigned themselves to despair.

And as such is their present, with no future prospect of hauling themselves out of their misery, it's little wonder they've become mewling, quarrelsome, bloody-minded and incapacitated people, ripe for manipulation by the terror militias who claim to have their best interests at heart, and manifest their dedication to their charges by mounting violent assaults against a neighbouring state.

The total absence of self-respect, of self-motivation to become better than the low existence to which they have themselves consigned themselves, should be evident to any onlooker. Sufficiently so as to cause some introspection on the part of the suppliers to the Palestinians of the wherewithal to continue their meaningless existence of internal strife and external violence.

When all the basic necessities of life are supplied by some invisible hand - working at a remove to assuage a general conscience of neglect of these hapless refugees, when it is in the power of the refugees and those who claim to represent their political interests to do otherwise - there simply is no incentive for the Palestinians to make an effort to improve their lot.

To become self-sufficient, to reach out for opportunities, to approach something resembling positive self-regard, enabling them to determine to wrench themselves out of the malaise of discontent and wretchedness they wallow in. To gain the wherewithal by which they may become confident in the future for their children, rather than groom their offspring to hatred and revenge, in reflection of their parental neuroses.

This situation is not lost on thoughtful interlocutors. But it presents as such an enormous challenge that it becomes breathtaking in its enormity. How does one go about convincing a downtrodden and tribally-invested population drenched in generations of hate-mongering that it is in their best and final interest to shed their social psychopathy, to reject the errantly brutal promises of Hamas, turn away from bloodshed?

All of this and more has occurred to a European Union MP, Daniel Hannan, who recently published his opinion of the situation in the London Telegraph. Mr. Hannan, noting the charitable gift of $500-million so far this year, with an additional $80-million in the offing to Hamas workers through the Palestinian Authority to be illegal and presents as an obstacle to peace.

"A welfare state is ... the perfect terrorist habitat", he warned. "The EU's generosity with our money ... creates two problems. First, the Palestinian Authority is run by Hamas, which is on the EU's list of designated terrorist operations. Under Brussels' rules, funding such an organization is a criminal offence.

"Euro-lawyers have sought to circumvent the letter of the law by funneling aid money through NGOs, but this is sheer sophistry. Many of the PA's officials are Hamas militants, whose salaries are being paid while they serve their sentences in Israeli jails. Second, it is becoming increasingly clear that overseas aid is arresting a political settlement in the region.

"Palestinians receive more assistance, per capita, than any other people on Earth, and live in one of its most violent spaces. The two facts are connected." The situation is a vicious cycle; the European Union selectively choosing to overlook the obvious, consigning the Palestinians to their endless cycle of dissonant helplessness; shovelling welfare funds at them, expecting nothing of them to help themselves.

Happily buying the twisted myth that the misery of poverty creates the backlash of aggression, and that handing over a continuous supply of the wherewithal of existence will muffle that propensity to violence. Even while experience and observation presents the logical opposite situation. When people have invested nothing of themselves, of their labour, into their existence they turn to other means to express themselves.

The frustration of continual dissatisfaction in their lives, lives they have boxed themselves into, their incapacity to move themselves into a forward agenda through their own efforts, their enterprise and dedication to become self-sustaining, turns society into a dangerously dissatisfied monster seeking revenge for the collective unhappiness, wherever it can find a target to blame.

As Mr. Hannan explained, "People who are worried about food and shelter have little time to go on demos"; putting it rather kindly. "It is when they have time to sit and brood that their thoughts turn to bloodshed." It is his belief that a PA society involved in a capitalist endeavour to support themselves would result in a stable society, leaving behind their dependence on the squalor of a mean existence.

He concluded by asserting that the European Union "in its well-intentioned but doltish way, is fuelling the conflict.

Is anyone listening out there?