While, like you, I cast the blame overwhelmingly at the feet of Hamas, and to a lesser but significant extent Netanyahu and his right-wing messianic nutjob partners, I have to sharply disagree with this.

Israel started off with great poverty, and throughout its history welcomed Jewish refugees, most of whom came with little or nothing (especially the hundreds of thousands kicked out of Muslim countries).

This included both of my parents, who were so poor that when they married in 1946 they had to live in a four-bedroom apartment with four other families (yes, one family lived in the "living room").

And this was the Israeli norm at the time, not the exception. Eating meat was a great luxury that happened rarely. Going out to a restaurant was unheard of. Few people owned a car. Nobody had a TV (we got our first black and white TV in the late 60s). A small radio was a near-luxury.

It was through many decades of hard work, sacrifice, and innovative thinking that Israel achieved its current level of per capita GDP and thus relative wealth compared to the Palestinians (and most Muslim countries).

It's a shame that rather than do the same, the Arab countries and people around Israel kept their masses illiterate and uneducated, and kept Jew hatred going, forcing Israel to spend over 50% more of its per-capita GDP on defense compared to the US.

Had the Arabs spent the money and efforts that went to attacking Israel on developing their economies and benefitting their people, they could have been similarly prosperous.