makesum, It seems you have a more balanced view of th Israel / Palestinian situation than most. There is plenty of Bad Guy and not Much Good guy. I'm afraid it's a case of What Might Have Been to talk about the industriousness of Israel and the labor pool of Palestine. Together they could have formed a dynamic union.
Another sad chapter about how the Gulf Monarchies have handles Palestinian labor in the oil fields.
The Ruler of the United Arab Emirates was Sheik Zayed Al Nahayan. He was a Bedouin sheik, ruler of the most powerful tribe in the vicinity. He became the first President of the UAE.
Sheik Zayad was a very benevolent man. He did much for his people and gave Western foreign workers far more latitude than other Gulf States.
A group of Lebanese businessmen took a proposal to him that would allow the use of a few thousand young Palestinian men in oil construction. They proposed establishing an off shore facilities fabrication yard on a 40 acre,or so island in Abu Dhabi's harbor. Sheik Zayed approved the plan. The Lebanese recruited workers among Palestinians in Lebanon. They started craft training schools there.
All the Palestinian workers came to the country in chartered planes and were bussed directly to boats to the island. They were quartered there. It was almost like a prison, but greatly benefited young men. They made good money and learned valuable skills.
My wife was the travel lady for an American company that provided welding inspectors to the UAE. They were mostly Brits and Americans. Many of them worked on the island and were impressed with the industriousness of the Palestinians. Then the Devil stepped in.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon. A few months later. The US helped to broker a deal for PLO fighters to agree to go to Morocco (I think) They were put on two boats and set sail. A matter of days later on September 18, 1982 the Lebanese Christian Militia raided the Palestinian refugee camps of Chattila and Sabra. Hundreds of family members of the PLO men, that were at sea, were massacred.
All this happened while Israeli tanks surrounded the camps. Ariel Sharon was the Defense Minister at the time. Under international lpressure he was forced to resign.
Now back to the island. The Lebanese managers were mostly Christians. When word hit the island, several days of deadly riots ensued. The men with my wife's company made their way to a beach and were rescued by small boats. They called it the Gulf Battle of Dunkirk.
It was never made public how many were butchered. It took the UAE Defense Force a couple of days to invade the island and quiet things down. The whole fabrication facility was closed for many weeks. Finally it was opened back up---using Phillipino labor.
This whole thing has been such a violent spiral it's hard to say where most of the blame lays.
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