By Moshe Feiglin
Why bomb Gazans if we can instead help them to actualize their wish to leave as 80% of them have indicated they want to do?
All kinds of estimates of the number of Arabs in Israel have been publicized. The following are the exact numbers as per the Demographic Institute of Yoram Ettinger. This is the only authoritative, professional institute, which cross-references its facts.
In Judea and Samaria there are 1.7 million Arabs.
In Gaza there are 1.3 Arabs
East Jerusalem: 300,000 Arabs, citizens of Israel
1.4 million Arab citizens of Israel outside Jerusalem
Now let us put these numbers into context. According to this morning’s economic news, as per the precedent of the Second Lebanon War, Operation Protective Edge in Gaza will cost at least 10 billion NIS in direct and indirect costs.
In Gaza there are 1.3 million residents, which are approximately 200,000 households.
The average salary in Gaza is 350 NIS per month. Let’s say 500 NIS per month. In other words, the money we have already spent to bomb Gaza, killing many Gazans in the process, could have been used to give each household 50,000 NIS – approximately 100 monthly salaries or 8 years of work – to help them to comfortably actualize their desire to emigrate.
As soon as we think out of the box, there are solutions to this conflict.
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