There is a common mis-conception that Poverty is directly related to terrorism - i.e., the poorer an individual or society is, the more likely that they will use terror or violence, after all - what have they got to loose?
This is possibly the motivation of the EU and the rest of the International community to pledge millions of dollars (Euros?) into the Palestinian Authority.
The reality is exactly the opposite; when an individual or society is very poor, they are worried about putting food on the table and a roof over their head. It is only once the have less financial worries that they start to worry about politics, or radical politics that leads to terrorism.
I just saw an interesting article that backed this up, look at the following tables (taken from www.camera.org )
The Red line shows aid given to the Palestinians, the Green Line shows the number of Palestinian Homicides.
Seems like there is a pretty strong relationship...
If you adjust the Green Line by a year, it seems to indicate that there as almost 1:1 relationship between money to the PA and terrorism within a year.
Makes you wonder why the Europeans are so keen to give Abbas money.
Any thoughts?
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