Brandon Rohde-7

False Thoughts on Israel

map of Israel

           Too many people in the general population have perceptions and misperceptions on just about everything. A perception is a process of using sensory information to gain an understanding of the surrounding environment. A misperception is the same thing but in turn, it is wrong. The country I am researching Israel is thought to be a small (which it is) poor country (which is not so much true) by the American public.

Israel is a small country in the Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Lebanon. Israel is 29 degrees to 33 degrees north and 33 degrees to 37 degrees east. The country itself has very limited resources but is extremely technologically advanced. Natural resources Israel does produce are timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate, rock, clays and sand. The population is approximately 7,800,596 people, less people than there are in the Chicago metropolitan area. A misperception on my country would be that Israel is oil rich. Another misperception people have on Israel is that they hate Arabs, when in truth they do not! The final perception people have on Israel is that they are rich because Jewish people live there and people stereotype Jews as being good with money.

          

                                                 List of oil Production in Israel

            Most people believe Israel is oil rich because they are in the Middle East. Though many countries in that region are oil rich such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, Israel is not. Israel actually tops most countries for having the least amount of oil supply, along with countries like Afghanistan and Jordan. So that perception is wrong; Israel is not oil rich, in fact they have hardly any oil. Israel is 99^th on most oil production lists out of all 208 countries. So they are just above middle of the road. I still would not consider that to be very good. They produce 4,029 barrels per day on average, where the U.S produces approximately 9.688 million barrels per day on average. Most people do not know the facts, and do not have the numbers. They just assume since Israel is in the Middle Eastern region of the world they have a lot of oil, like other countries around there.http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_pro-energy-oil-production

       

   

                                                       Map of where people live in Israel

            Many people believe that Israelis hate Arabs, when that cannot be possible because of the fact that a lot of Israelis are Arab. Too many people believe this misperception because hundreds of years ago Rome claimed Israel. Arabs move into the country while the native people were kicked out by the Roman Empire. A few years ago the United Nations decided to give the land back to the Israelis, but there were still people living there (Arabs). So the Israeli people let the Arab people stay but made them live in the outskirts of the country. These places also had terrible living conditions, and made the feud even worse, but in truth plenty of Arabs are from Israel. Today Israel is disliked by many of its neighboring countries. They kicked out what is thought to be the original population of 96 percent Muslim and Christian. A lot of these people live in these neighboring countries creating the feud. http://www.wwco.com/religion/israel.php
           

                                         Difference between poor and rich children in Israel

The final misperception people have on Israel is that the people there are rich. People believe this because a lot of Jewish people live in the country, and there is a stereotype that Jewish people are good with money. This is completely wrong; Israel has approximately 20.5 percent of its people living in poverty. Israel can be considered rich when compared to its neighboring countries though. Israel has a Gross National Income per capita of $27,630, while neighboring country Jordan only has a Gross National Income per capita of $5,800. That is a pretty big difference, thus they are considered rich. When comparing Israel and America, Israel is much less rich. America has a Gross National Income per capita of $47,360. I don’t even think that is much of a comparison. The average American generally makes almost $20,000 more than the average Israeli.

            Israel has a lot of history behind it, and also a lot of mixed feelings. People believe the country is oil rich just because they are located in the Middle East (false). Close by countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia are oil rich. Those countries tend to be on national television stations like fox news a lot. People here about them and think “oh Israel is right by there, so they must have a lot of oil too. This is not the case. Another misperception most people tend to believe is that Israeli people strongly dislike Arabs, when in truth many Arabs are from Israel. There was a long outstanding feud between the two and has been settled for the most part. You can’t always please everyone though and even today there are terrorist groups that just won’t drop it. They want to continue to fight about the issue even when nothing that they do is really going to benefit them.  The final misperception people have on Israel is that people there are rich, only because of the fact many people in the country are Jewish; and a lot of people think Jewish people are good with money. This is also false; the country has about 20.5% of the population living in poverty. Yes, Israel has a much higher Gross National Income rate per capita than many of its close by countries such as Jordan or Iraq but they are not rich. Especially when you compare the average Israeli to the average American; the American makes almost $20,000 more! Not to say that Israel is dirt poor, they have a decent amount of money. The country is definitely not rich though.

            

Bibliography

"Israel." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Aug. 2012. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel>.

"Why the Arabs Hate the Jews." Why the Arabs Hate the Jews. 31 Mar. 2010. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://www.wwco.com/religion/israel.php>.

"Israel Map." Web. <http://a.espncdn.com/i/eticket/20060726/israel_map.jpg>.

"Economy of Israel." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Aug. 2012. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Israel>.

"15 Impressive Features Of The Israeli Economy And Some Investment Opportunities For Profiting - Seeking Alpha." 15 Impressive Features Of The Israeli Economy And Some Investment Opportunities For Profiting - Seeking Alpha. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://seekingalpha.com/article/291616-15-impressive-features-of-the-israeli-economy-and-some-investment-opportunities-for-profiting>.

"Israel-Palestine Maps." Web. <http://newsjunkiepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Israel-Palestine_maps1.jpg>.

"Gap between Rich and Poor Children." Web. <http://www.unicef.org/pon96/p45bclr.gif>.

Factbooks, CIA World. "Production Oil Statistics - Countries Compared Worldwide."NationMaster.com. NationMaster. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_pro-energy-oil-production>.

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