An opinion piece about nothing. All to say that a culture of Freedom invites prosperity. Hard to argue that point, it is a formula that has worked for the US and others. But it is not hard to argue that success and prosperity are not borne out of that freedom. One need only look at China as an example of economic prosperity born not out of freedom but in spite of an absence of it. Moreover, and I say this as a strong supported of Israel and a critic of Palestinian choices over the last 70 years, Palestinians want freedom. We may not like the demands they are making to get it, we may not agree with the means they believe will achieve it. But to suggest they do not aspire to freedom and democracy is to be blind to facts. One may argue that Palestinians are their own worst enemy in terms of the choices they have made. I get that. But Israel is an equal impediment to Palestinian freedom. So to suggest that Israel succeeds because it fought for freedom and democracy and was victorious seems to ignore the fact that Palestinians also fought for similar things, they just lost. And losing is the biggest reason for the difference in culture and the deleterious impacts on the Palestinian’s economic malaise.