The Gullibility of Development Economists

Abstract

Abramov, Perpetual Dilemma: Jewish Religion in the Jewish State, Rutherford etc.: Associated University Presses 1976. There is substantive supportive literature on both sides of the somewhat polemical debate over whether there is religious liberty for Jews in Israel. 13. The subject was discussed a few years ago in the pages of RAIN (44, June 1981, by Myron Aronoff, and also, more briefly, in 47, December 1981, by Jonathan Webber); for the first comprehensive analysis see Charles S. Liebman and Eliezer Don-Yehiya, Civil Religion in Israel: raditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State, Berkeley: University of California Press 1983. 14. The economic subjugation of the Arab population of Israel, particularly in the occupied territories (caused by discriminatory terms of trade, lack of protection, credit, infrastructure or subsidization, and administrative restrictions) has on the other hand been accompanied by a considerable increase in individual Arab prosperity and access to modern facilities; the disparity in effect leaves room for two quite different models of economic trends, used respectively by Arabs and Israelis. For an important new study see Meron Benvenisti, The West Bank Data Project: A Survey of Israel's Policies, Washington and London: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research 1984.