[Phang]

Life expectancy in Israel: 77 years (men), 82 years (women)
Life expectancy in the Palestinian Territories: 71 years (men), 74 years (women)

GNP per capita in Israel: $18,620
GNP per capita in Palestine: $1,120

Population density per square mile in Israel: 786.2
Population density per square mile in Palestine: 1553.5


The Palestinians are living on nothing. They're living for less time and in less space than the Israelis. Israel is not only not helping, it is making this worse, and there is no way you can seriously suggest Israel would encourage the development of an independent Palestinian state. Jonny's put this far better than I'm likely to on the last page, but the current situation is not htat the Palestinians are dying on their feet or living on their knees - they're dying on their knees. For people in the Gaza strip and to a lesser extent the west bank, a suicide bomb is the only way they can fight, it get's them into heaven, and it's pretty much all they can do with their lives. Israel have caused this problem and it needs to be Israel who fix it, and Israel need to fix it.