Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 20)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 20)
- المحتوى
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‘Israel’, it is worthwhile to look at the general strategic
framework in which a series of economic developments took
place. We should also examine the most outstanding of the ex-
ceptionally favorable factors which made the economic growth
of ‘Israel’ proceed at a pace unknown in any other society.)
‘Israel’ is a rapidly changing entity in accordance with the par-
ticular circumstances in which it exists. Hence we see the ab-
solute invalidity of preconceived, mystical or rigid concepts in
grasping the current reality of ‘Israel’; these are often
misleading, dragging the holders of such views into the worst
consequences.
In accordance with its development, ‘Israel’ has managed
to reformulate its relationship with the imperialist center into
that of a partner-instrument, instead of a lackey-instrument.
Thus it is no longer possible to talk about an ‘Israel’ which is a
burden; rather ‘Israel’ has become a strategic asset and a pro-
fitable partner for world imperialism. The 1967 war played a
special role in developing this formula for the relationship
between the Zionist and imperialist projects respectively,
whereby the former has acquired a more obvious and specific
status within the framework of the latter. The war also brought
a fundamental change in the Zionist state’s view of itself and
its role, which has been accentuated after the 1973 war. This
change is noticeable in the statements of some Israeli strategists
who have called for a strategic security-political concept in-
volving a great deal of originality at the level of supreme na-
tional strategy and security, to enable a quantitatively small
and weak state as Israel to be as strong as a great mighty
state... This is to be realized not only through available combat
potential, but through the whole chain of which military
potential is only one link. Hence the call to strengthen the
whole chain, because «the chain is never stronger than its
weakest link».
The essential thing in such statements is that ‘Israel’ is no
longer a military institution which has a state, but a state which
has its military institution. If the latter was the strongest link,
then it has become necessary to raise the economic, social,
scientific and human links of the chain to the same level. It is
this very notion that has governed the economic programs of
‘Israel’ as well as its relationship with both the Zionist move-
ment and the imperialist center whose economic support has
acquired a strategic value no less than that of their military
support. This is contrary to the usual relations between the
states of the imperialist center and those in the third world. In
this strategic scope, all natural, financial, human, economic,
marketing resources, etc., have been utilized to serve the plan
for ‘Israel’ being the regional great power. How has this been
done? What is the outcome of the past forty years?
In the case of ‘Israel’ it is impossible to ignore the decisive
role of the external factor which has guaranteed the necessary
quota of: (1) human resources, especially highly skilled; (2)
constant capital influx, leading to a high level of capitalization
which would be impossible through internal accumulation;
(3) marketing facilities, leading to the semi-integration of
‘Israel’ into the world imperialist market under extremely
favorable conditions, confirming that ‘Israel’ has been dealt
with as if it were part of the imperialist center, not a peripheral
state.
No one argues against these facts. Yet the question has not,
so far, received the deserved amount of attention. Besides, it
continues to create confusion among many of those who are
concerned about how ‘Israel’ has made use of these resources,
and how it has invested this aid in the service of its own project
20
which is linked to and in harmony with the general imperialist
project.
1. FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Between 1950 and 1984, ‘Israel’ was flooded with financial
resources estimated at 92,000 million dollars at 1980 prices;
more than two-thirds of this was from the USA, followed by
Federal Germany and the World Zionist Organization, and
finally aid, grants and credits from various imperialist states.
In the same period, a sum of 94,000 million dollars, also at
1980 prices, was invested locally. This shows that the influx of
money from abroad was not wasted on consumption or non-
productive activities, but went towards capital accumulation.
This capital investment amounts to one-fourth of the gross na-
tional product, which is one of the highest ratios in the world.
Thus we reach the important conclusion that increased security
burdens have not prevented ‘Israel’ from building a developed
economic base, according a fourth of its national product for
the purpose.
Going further into the details of how these huge sums have
been used, we discover that 64,000 million dollars, two-thirds
of the total, have been invested in fields which are characteriz-
ed by productivity, mechanization and the like, while the social
sector - individual possessions and housing - has not taken
more than one-third of capital accumulation. This led to a high
degree of capitalization in the various productive sectors.
- In agriculture for example, 18% of the land was irrigated in
1949, rising to 50% by 1984. There were 1300 agricultural
machines in 1949, but 29,900 in 1984. The amount of water
consumed by each Israeli is 260 liters per day, compared with
60 in the West Bank.
- Electricity production rose from 464 million kilowatts in 1950
to 129,000 million in 1984, more than one-third of this being
used in industry.
- In the industrial sector, 15,000 million dollars were invested
from 1950 to 1984; 11,000 million dollars of this went for
modern technology. The ratio of investment in technology to
overall capital investment rose from 13% to 15% in the sixties,
and to 21.3% in the eighties. The concentration of investment
in technology reached a record high; an estimated average of
50,000 dollars is invested per worker.
2. HUMAN RESOURCES AND SKILLED
LABOR
Parallel to the intensified capitalization of the Israeli
economy, available labor power has been used extremely effi-
ciently. This applies both to new immigrants, mostly highly
skilled, and to the use of science to raise the standards of the
local labor force. It has entailed the creation of new fields and
new ways to benefit from female labor as much as possible,as
well as employing Palestinians to do low-paid, unskilled jobs,
which the Israeli laborer refuses to do; the latter tries to be
employed in fields requiring skills and expertise.
In the period of 1948 - 1984, there were 1.75 million im-
migrants; 1.4 million of them settled in ‘Israel’. In the years
1974-1984, 25-31% of immigrants of working age had high
qualifications. According to available information, some
49-65,000 people with high qualifications arrived in ‘Israel’
from 1955 to 1984. Out of these, 18-26,000 were engineers, and
10-13,800 were physicians. The years 1972-1984 witnessed the
greatest influx of highly qualified immigrants. While the
number of immigrants in the years 1972-84 was 35% of all
1955-84 immigrants, they accounted for 70% of all the - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 30
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