Universities cancel study abroad in Israel in wake of Gaza op

[DogPoundPup]

snip~
Citing security concerns during the IDF's Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Rutgers joined ranks with Duke and Pennsylvania universities earlier this month in canceling their study abroad programs in Israel. Students were sent letters and e-mails notifying them of the change, but given time constraints associated with the spring semester, many of them were left with little choice - either abandon their plans to come to Israel, or go it alone, without the support of their schools.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232643747174&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Taverner]

1. If anything, they should be RAMPING this program up

People need to see what's going on

[DogPoundPup]

2. Yea, seeing flattened houses and roads, poverty and starvation in Israe...

oh no, that's what they'd see happening in Gaza.

Israeli's are fat and healthy, prosperity everywhere. Lot's and lots of everything in Israel.

[oberliner]

4. OECD report: Israel has highest poverty level in western world

Surprisingly, the statistics show chronic poverty is more widespread among Jews than among Arabs: 61 percent of Jewish families classified as poor in 2007 were considered chronically poor, as compared to half of the Arab families. Seventy percent of Israeli families with four or more children are considered chronically poor.

The report also shows how employment affects the extent of poverty. Among families headed by someone who works, 54 percent are poor for the long term, compared to 62 percent of families with an unemployed head of the household.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040242.html

[DogPoundPup]

7. Must be because they don't want to work eh?

Israel's economy grew by at least 5 percent a year between 2003 and 2007 and grew by an estimated 4.1 percent in 2008 to a record gross domestic product of 715.8 billion shekels ($180 billion).

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7133213&subject=markets&action=article

[oberliner]

8. Poverty report shows rise in gaps before economic crisis

According to the report on the period between July 2007 and June 2008, (before the global economic crisis broke out), the poverty depth index, that examines the income gap ratio between the rich and the poor, rose from 34.3% in 2007 to 34.8% in 2008.

The poverty severity index rose by 2% compared to the last report. Single-parent families experience a particularly sharp rise, while the situation for the elderly, immigrants, Arabs and youth has actually improved slightly.

Since 2005 – the period when the dimensions of poverty were relatively stable – the poverty depth and severity indexes rose by 5%-6%, meaning the population that did not climb out of poverty has actually gotten poorer.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3661252,00.html

[Idealism]

10. How is that possible?

Israel has barely over 6% unemployment and the average per capita is $28,900. I am very skeptical of that report, sir.

[oberliner]

12. Unemployment is about 7.5 percent and 20 percent of the population lives under the poverty line

You can read the Israel country report at the OECD website (its a PDF).

[Idealism]

13. The CIA World Fact book needs updating then

They say 6.1% unemployment in 2008. It is possible there is a wave of job loss in Israel having to due with the global recession, however.

[oberliner]

14. More info

The Poverty Report states that Israel had 418,000 poor families in mid-2008, with a total of 1.63 million poor people, including 777,400 children.

The decline in the number of poor was due not only only to the rise in old-age pensions, a statistic which showed up in previous Poverty Reports, but also from an improvement in the situation of Israeli Arabs, and no change in the number of poor large families. However, the number of working poor continued to increase, mainly because of the increase in the number of jobs offered by job agencies and service contractors, and the increase in part-time jobs.

Nevertheless, senior National Insurance Institute and Ministry of Social Affairs officials know that the most worrying numbers cannot be found in this Poverty Report, but will appear in the subsequent ones. The economic crisis the erupted in the second half of 2008 led to a wave of layoffs, which has not yet crested, resulting in increased unemployment, whose consequences will appear in future reports.

http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000419494&fid=1725

[GoesTo11]

16. Probably a lot of orthodox families

In a lot of cases, there's a lifestyle that's not focused on earning much of an income, and it plays out as you might expect.

[Idealism]

21. Orthodox Jews aren't that much of the population, I was led to believe

Certainly not enough of them to dictate Israel being the "poorest of the Western nations" as that report indicated.

Either way, there is a healthy aristocrat class in Israeli society that control much of the wealth, but the same can be said for every country on Earth truly.

[Taverner]

5. Well yeah, but if they could get into Gaza

I know - I would have been the student that went over there, and then slipped off to Gaza to see for myself.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. The West Bank is easy to get into, so was Gaza prior to the Hamas coup

BTDT

[DogPoundPup]

17. Yea, easy to get in, just impossible to get out....

Gaza Fulbright scholars denied access to Israel meet U.S. visa officials at Gaza border

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/10/africa/ME-Palestinians-Fulbright.php

AND

U.S. Withdraws Fulbright Grants to Gaza

GAZA — The American State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza hoping to pursue advanced degrees at American institutions this fall because Israel has not granted them permission to leave.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/middleeast/30gaza.html

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. You have managed to pervert the context once again...it was for visiting students, not Gazans

[oberliner]

19. The Fulbright grants were reinstated and most of those students are now studying in the US

State Dept. Reinstates Gaza Fulbright Grants

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/world/middleeast/02fulbright.html?ex=1370145600&en=e591ab32ad88c05e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

[DogPoundPup]

20. and...

< Like the others who got the good news on Sunday, however, he said he could not be truly happy until the other 600 or so Gazans with grants to study abroad also got out. >

<On Monday, Israel’s Supreme Court will hear petitions brought by Gisha on behalf of two students seeking exit permits for study programs in Germany and Britain. Since January, Ms. Bashi said, almost no students have gotten out of Gaza for such study. >

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/world/middleeast/02fulbright.html?ex=1370145600&en=e591ab32ad88c05e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

[ikojo]

9. Not ALL Israelis are well off

There is a disparity in wealth in Israel and many poor people. Many of the orthodox live in poverty because they tend to have large families and the men spend so much time studying in yeshiva. The Ashkenazic (European) Jews tend to be better off than the Sephardic (Middle Eastern) Jews.



19 Families control 34 percent of Israel’s income

http://www.jewlicious.com/2007/07/19-families-control-34-percent-of-israels-income/

Business Data Israel (BDI) reports that Israel’s 19 wealthiest families controlled an aggregate NIS 248 billion in revenue in 2006, 34% of the NIS 722 billion earned by the country’s 500 largest companies altogether. This is BDI’s third annual concentration index on concentration in the Israeli economy.

BDI adds that the aggregate income controlled by the 19 families equaled 88% of the government budget of NIS 283 billion, and over half of the business product of NIS 457 billion.

Business Data Israel (BDI) reports that Israel’s 19 wealthiest families controlled an aggregate NIS 248 billion in revenue in 2006, 34% of the NIS 722 billion earned by the country’s 500 largest companies altogether. This is BDI’s third annual concentration index on concentration in the Israeli economy.

[Donnachaidh]

3. it's doubtful the Israelis would let them actually SEE what has been happening

They haven't allowed journos in, how can you expect them to allow University people in?

[Taverner]

6. Anyone can go off the "beaten path" - Just ask Paul Theroux

He made a career of going off the beaten path

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. Alternative Tours - located at the Jerusalem Hotel in Arab East Jerusalem

offers a number of personal and group tours into the Occupied Territories. They have in the past offered tours to the Gaza, but access is subject to what the Israeli forces will allow on any given day.

Their website:

http://www.alternativetours.ps/abuhassan%20final1_files/Page266.htm