Israel

THE MODERN STATE of Israel occupies much of the Fertile Crescent land bridge between Africa and Asia. The country was established by a United Nations resolution (181) on November 29, 1947. Resolution 181 partitioned Palestine into two states—one Jewish and one Arab. The new state of Israel ended the historic diaspora created by the Romans at the end of the Jewish Wars in 70 c.e. A Palestinian state has not been created.

Since its establishment the people in Israel have been able to create a modern technological society that is a sophisticated producer of goods and services. Despite the high-level modernization, poverty exists in the country for several reasons. But how much poverty may be open to debate.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, a senior adviser to the Bank of Israel, four different methods of measuring poverty yielded four different results: “He found that on the basis used in the United States, the rate of poor families in Israel reaches 28 percent; according to the Canadian standard, the rate drops to 24 percent; the method proposed by the National Research Council in the United States lowers the rate further to 23 percent; and the Israeli method calculates the rate of poverty in Israel at 18 percent” of the population.

Nevertheless, poverty does exist in modern Israeli society because of war and civil conflicts, high birthrates, and an economy unable to absorb large numbers of new immigrants.

The virtual state of war that has existed between Israel and the Arab League countries since the first Arab-Israeli War (1948) has forced enormous sums to be spent on arms. Currently most of the Arab portion of the land that is controlled by Israel is an area of deep poverty. The Arab population in both Israel and Israeli-controlled territory has a high birthrate, which has added to the poverty rate. It has been reported by the World Bank that in the West Bank and Gaza occupied territories, 60 percent of Palestinians live on less than $60 a month.

The enormous hostility hampers economic development. Extremist groups willing to use violence against the people, economy, and state of Israel abound. This means that war and the Intifada (Palestinian uprisings) have led to a failure to address the root causes of poverty among Palestinians, which is an issue that goes beyond Israel proper.

The poverty levels are demographically concentrated. Jewish immigrants to Israel have come from all over the world. One poverty factor has been the immigration of Sephardic Jews from north Africa or from Middle Eastern countries. Many of these arrivals were from impoverished backgrounds. They have a high birthrate, which means that poor people are producing numerous poor children. The Jewish immigrants from [Page 585]Europe tended to be Ashkenazim with a lower birthrate, better education, and much less poverty.

Many Haredi Jews (ultra-Orthodox) spend their time in religious studies and do not enter the job market. They also have high birthrates. These Jewish groups and the Arabs make up much of the poverty-stricken population.

Since the country's inception, there have been repeated waves of immigrants to Israel from around the world. Many of the immigrants to Israel, even when well-educated, have been placed in rural or unsettled areas with frail economies. Many of the immigrants, economically stable or prosperous at home, were forced to leave much of their wealth behind.

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