Global Peace Index: Israel Hits Rock Bottom

Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Israel 136th out of 140 countries, alongside Afghanistan, Chad

Reuters

Iceland is the world's most peaceful nation while Israel ranked 136th out of 140 nations, according to the "Global Peace Index," compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The study ranked the United States 97th out of 140 countries according to how peaceful they were domestically and how they interacted with the outside world.

The United States slipped from 96th last year, but was still ahead of foe Iran which ranked 105th. It, however, lagged Belarus, Cuba, South Korea, Chile, Libya and others which were listed as more peaceful.

Iraq, which the United States invaded in 2003, leading to the toppling of Saddam Hussein, ranked lowest on the index. Afghanistan was also in the bottom five, along with Sudan, Somalia and Israel.

MORE... http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3545840,00.html

(Partly because the UK has too many of them with regard to rankings of schools, universities, hospitals, etc.!)

Israel certainly suffers from a severe 'peace shortage'; but I would not rank it below countries like Myanmar and Zimbabwe in this respect!

Also, getting slightly off-topic, why does South Africa have such a low ranking? I realize that there is a lot of violent crime there, but it is not at war or much risk of war.

but I think the list was compiled before the very recent riots.

Sure, Israel is just as peaceful as the Sudan, which has been carrying out a mass genocide for fifteen years, killed untold hundreds of thousands of people, and uprooted and made refugees out of millions more.

That is just like Israel, who still supplies food and fuel (when the terrorists aren't blowing it up).

:sarcasm:

the first is in "keeping up appearances" in what is called "the road map" and the second is that those commodities can also be used as weapons, be good little Pali's and you'll eat tonight and maybe if grandpa has cancer he'll be allowed treatment, be bad and well you'll go hungry of course we will not starve you that's too obvious but your kids will suffer malnutrition and well we'll have interrogate grand pa for a few days before we can decide if he's a terrorist or has info. Then maybe medical treatment.

israel supplies food and supplies because of humanitarian values...and thats about it. There is no road map, no appearances to keep up....we bomb them remember?...

they and their friends can always look south to Egypt for help

did Olmert say that? He seems to say otherwise here

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954758.html

and here

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964721.html

your quote:

it only has to repeated as if it was the ultimate truth and only thing worth citing. It is like repeating Bibi saying that he would not honor any peace deal; made if elected as if it were the opinion of the entire Israeli government

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=212494&mesg_id=212728


(read the whole subthread...)

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as i wrote i personally think when there is an intent mentioned by a leader and action carried out, there is substance to the argument.....

I think Egypt should take over all the services provided by Israel, and should possibly get UN help in doing so including medical, although Israel should not any longer have any part in collecting tax moneys be it from the PA or others that too should be in Egypt's hands.

It should be noted that collecting and holding taxes from the Palestinians is also part of the "Olso Peace Accords, or roadmap" odd how when those here that proclaim they are null and void never seem to mention that part.

http://www.slate.com/id/2136484/

and i was glad to read about it....

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/05/01/ism-summer-against-apartheid/

In Gaza, ISM will continue our campaign to fight against the Israel’s extreme collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. We will demonstrate in Egypt on the 30th May 2008

they also delivered medical supplies via egypt after waiting on the border for 3 weeks....

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and so do i.....via egypt we'll see whats more important: "punishing israel" or helping out the Palestinians, this concept will be a breakthrough for the region. As theses cracks appear i am moving over to the position of a full israeli blockade from israel on everything, forcing the issue to the forefront and forcing egypt to change.


They've got a port just 20min south of gaza...no problem on the importing/exporting

the point that Israel is attacked daily by rockets?
How the hell can it be a peaceful country when it gets blown up every day?

The first-ever study ranking countries according to their level of peacefulness, the Global Peace Index, was recently published by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Sensibly, its basic premise is that "peace isn't just the absence of war; it's the absence of violence."

The index uses 24 indicators such as how many soldiers are killed, the level of violent crimes, and relations with neighboring countries.

Yet it fails to include the most prevalent form of global violence: violence against women and children, often in their own families. To put it mildly, this blind spot makes the index very inaccurate.

Glancing at the list shows why. Out of 121 countries studied, the United States ranked 96; Israel was 119. But Libya, Cuba, and China – not exactly paragons of human rights – rank 58, 59, and 60.

A closer examination reveals some of the sources of distortion:

•For example, Egypt was ranked 73. But more than 90 percent of Egyptian girls and women are subjected to genital mutilation. This gruesome practice causes many lifelong physical problems and claims the lives of countless women. It's a terrible form of violence, but it wasn't included in the index, otherwise Egypt would have ranked much lower.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0726/p09s01-coop.htm

that Egypt outlawed the practice of female circumcision or mutilation completely last year and it had been outlawed there 1996 except for when deemed medically necessary by a Doctor, that loophole was finally closed.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/04A6BE36-A265-475A-B8D1-C8E0A4298A69.htm

It should also be noted that this practice is not part of Islam but rather an African cultural phenomena, it is also widely practiced in Eritrea, which is largely Christian, it is also practiced amongst tribal cultures and dates back to biblical times.

the relevancy is hard to understand:

either FGM is considered a violent act and should be included in the index for all countries or it shouldnt be...which is it

However for the purposes of the index which is apparently done on a yearly basis as indicated here, are you claiming that every violent act ever committed by a country should be counted?
How far back should we go? 100 years, then Germany would constantly be last, 1,000 years then Mongolia would be near bottom, however none of these are much of an indicator of present conditions. Is your claim that despite be totally outlawed that FGM is still being practiced in Egypt? Countries that still routinely practice FGM should have this taken into account for the index.

The United States slipped from 96th last year

As to the relevancy in the CSM article noted when actions were taken to correct problems, but not in the case of Egypt, in all fairness the article is almost a year old perhaps Egypt had yet passed the new law also there is a number discrepancy CSM claims 121 countries were were rated and ynet claims 140 so were 19 countries added? If so then both the US and Israel actually came up, not down the scale.

the rating....i was taken back by your comment on the relevancy of whether or not FGM is legal or not

FGM illegal it indicates that at least they're trying to do something to stop it, now whether or not the law is followed or enforced is another story.

The same thing happened locally about 10 years ago, when it was revealed that a Doctor was doing the procedure in the OR of the University hospital albeit under anesthesia and by parental request. Up until then not much had been said about the practice, once made public to a sh*t storm erupted is an understatement. The result was that the Doctor lost his privileges and I think both he and the parents involved were charged with child abuse, they in turn were shocked that this was such a big deal and counter charged that their rights as parents were being infringed upon. Needless to say the practice is illegal here now.

Also I have seen the physical results of FGM first hand it is horrible.

Excerpt:

Nagy El Shahabi, head of the El Geil Party, said that female circumcision is a deeply-rooted tradition in Egypt’s villages. “People shouldn’t be punished for practicing their customs and traditions,” he said.

“If we apply the prison sentence, all people in Upper Egypt will end up in prison.”

In response, Council Speaker Safwat El Sherif said that if the society wants to develop it has to change its habits.

Osama Hafez, one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders, said that outlawing female circumcision and punishing parents for beating their children are “ideas imported from the West” that would lead to dysfunctional families.

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ArticleID=13659

but die they do, they had a hard time with footbinding in China and Sati in India, hopefully FGM goes the same way as those barbaric practices.