Who Profits From the Israeli Occupation

The Israeli security industry is a major beneficiary of the Israeli occupation. The products from these industries are heavily used in the areas the Israel militarily controls. These products include weapons, ammunition and refinements. These weapons are tested on a daily bases in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But they also include security, surveillance and deterrence products. Amira Hass, a reporter for an Israeli Newspaper remarked in an article. “Protecting the settlements requires constant development of security, surveillance and deterrence equipment such as fences, roadblocks, electronic surveillance, cameras and robots.” Once they have sold these security products to the Israeli government to be used against Palestinians they can put them on the international market as proven security products. These products serve the homeland security market in the United State and the banking industry. This industry also provides products and services for residences in luxury neighborhoods that are near shantytowns and ethnic enclaves where uprisings need to be put down..

This industry employs about 70,000 Israelis. Every year thousands of Israelis complete their military service and have learned skills that make them attractive employment candidates for the security industry. They can be employed as professional soldiers, Shin Bet (security services) operatives, foreign consultants, mercenaries, and weapons dealers. They can also work for the companies that develop the products within the security industry. Amira Hass says in the article, “Therefore peace endangers the careers and professional futures of an important and prestigious stratum of Israelis, a stratum that has a major influence on the government.”

The settlements also offer Jewish Israelis a standard of living that many could not afford if they lived within the 1967 boarders. The settlements offer these people cheap land with large houses to live in. These settlement are also spacious, offer a very picturesque view and provide a top notch education for their residents. They also receive subsidies and and get to drive on a very modern and well maintained road network. Amira Hass remarks, “ Even for those Israeli Jews who have not moved there, the settlements illuminate their horizon as an option for a social and economic upgrade. That option is more real than the vague promises of peacetime improvements, an unknown situation.”

She concluded her article by writing, “Peace will also reduce, if not erase entirely, the security pretext for discriminating against Palestinian Israelis - in land distribution, development resources, education, health employment and civil rights (such as marriage and citizenship) . People who have gotten used to privilege under a system based on ethnic discrimination see its abrogation as a threat to their welfare.”

Article that this post is based on:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084656.html

A short video made by some Jewish peace activist and a well know blogger:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-21/how-i-got-gass...