Millions of Arabs live in Israel but no Israeli's live in Gaza. Thoughts?

I don't think it matters. We humans can get so petty sometimes. People should live where they want, what makes them happy, what makes them want to flourish. Who cares about your religion, your race, your likes and dislikes. That is what makes freedom so special.

I'm sitting in Tel Aviv right now and my perception is that the people in Israel want a better life, Im just not sure they know how to proceed..... or maybe the religions keep them from doing what is necessary to advance and build nicer buildings, tear down dilapidated buildings, etc.. generally speaking they do seem to dress nice.

The street markets are something else... you can get anything and everything regarding foods and house supplies. Also everyone seems to have a cell phone and like most countries they walk down the street staring at them blindly...

I have no real idea what I'm talking about, this is my first time in Israel and I've been here for 2 days so far. So this is just a thought and not even an opinion about anything.

So here's my opinion: Extreme dedication to any religion will keep you from advancing your material capitalist life. If your lifes ambition is complete dedication to your religion thats fine, but then you can't complain when others have more material things. When governments are run by dedicated religious people, capitalism takes a back seat.

One of the things I notice here is that the people don't have any priority to make personal stuff look nice. They have cars, scooters and places to live, but no or little money is spent on keeping or making them look appealing to other people who might be walking by. Many people might say thats an american personality to make things look nice for other people. But the facts are that when you take care of your scooter by cleaning it, waxing it, etc.... your also more probably keeping it in better maintenance and thus making it last a lot longer. In the long run its cheaper to take better care of your stuff.

I think the really great thing about America is the tolerance not only the government has but the people have for the freedom to believe and practice and live how you would like. Don't push me into religion and I won't push you into owning a high value business where you make a lot of money. The choice is yours.

I hope this was not to far off topic, this is just one dumb ass american's point of view from being here for 2 days. I know this subject goes a lot lot deeper.

Capitalist can't fix it because they don't understand what is in the minds of dedicated religious people. But dedicated religious people can't fix it either because making life better for others in not necessarily on the top of their agenda. Getting you to understand their way of life is what seems to be their agenda. But if they ever succeed in making you understand dedicated religion, capitalism will cease because you can't have both (unless your a tv Evangelist).

I'm not sure there's any logic to argue there. The fact that in the town I grew up in there were no Muslims, few Asians, indeed few or none of anything but Caucasian Christians and a few Jews did not make us racist. Of course, it didn't mean there weren't some racists in the town (I'm sure there were). Similarly, there are definitely racists in various highly diverse locations - France, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, and the list goes on...

The argument would be far better if it addressed things like whether Arabs or Jews were evicted by the authorities in either jurisdiction (side point: the Gaza strip is not a "state," nor is the Palestinian Authority, of which Gaza is a part). Further, what are the policies of the government regarding religious and ethnic tolerance and civil rights? Are those policies enforced? Are the rules for citizenship the same regardless of religious or ethnic affiliation?

Just a comparison, South Africa under apartheid had millions of non-whites living in the country. Could the governing White minority claim it wasn't racist because there were millions of non-whites?