Israel expresses a great deal of satisfaction -- even more than you'd expect given their per capita GDP. Knowing this would not exactly increase the life satisfaction of the Palestinians, who seem dedicated to making life for the Israelis unsatisfactory. Overall, 68% of the Israelis place themselves high on the ladder of life, but (as noted elsewhere in the report) only 24% of the Palestinians place themselves into that category. The report also separately reports that, over the last 5 years, 37% of Israelis feel that they have made progress in overall quality of life, whereas 34% feel that they lost ground. For the Palestinians, only 26% feel they have made progress, whereas 57% feel they have lost ground. That sounds about right to me. The Palestinians might be the most self-destructive people on earth. For example, they elected Hamas, and they stand out in the Muslim world as still strongly supporting suicide bombings that target civilians and as declaring their support for Osama bin Laden.As long as Palestinians are given a free ride--and expected to be given a free country--while the rest of the world looks--and cleans up--after them, Palestinian Arab life is going nowhere.
...You might disagree, but I believe that the lack of happiness in Palestine is directly related to their pathological support for suicide bombings. As long as they maintain that mind set, they will ensure the worst possible future for their children. In that regard, the Pew report states that 40% of Israeli's believe that their children's lives will be better than their own. Only 18% of Palestinians feel that way. Given their unshakable support for terrorism, 18% seems wildly optimistic to me.
Technorati Tag: Israel.