Palestinian Culture - Text Of Romneys Remarks About Culture - Israel And The Palestinians - The Washington Post

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Romney s comments Tuesday on Fox News regarding his remarks in Jerusalem about culture:

I said nothing in my remarks about the Palestinian culture or the development of their economy. I said what I ve said in my book and what I ve said in numerous places across the country that the choices a nation makes with regards to culture and I m talking about does it accept free enterprise, human dignity, human rights, rights for women, a work ethic, does it value education, does it promote entrepreneurialism all of these choices, broadly speaking, have an enormous impact on the economic vitality and income per capita of a people. I believe that today. I believe that applies across the board. I would presume that people in a wide array of nations, even those that are not affiliated with us in any way, have the same views, that the choices you make culturally, from do you have democracy, free enterprise, human rights, education, rights for women these things make a difference in your economy.

(Romney was then asked about the criticism from Palestinian officials)

I m not speaking about it and did not speak about the Palestinian culture or the decisions made in their economy. That s an interesting topic that perhaps could deserve scholarly analysis, but I actually didn t address that, certainly don t intend to address that during my campaign. Instead, I will point out that the choices a society makes have a profound impact on the economy and the vitality of that society.

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Romney s comments on Monday in Jerusalem, as released by the Romney campaign:

I was thinking this morning, as I prepared to come into this room, of a discussion I had across the country in the United States about my perceptions about the differences between countries.

And as you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel, which is about $21,000, and you compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice a dramatic, stark difference in economic vitality. And that is also between other countries that are near or next to each other. Chile and Ecuador, Mexico and the United States.

I noted that part of my interest when I used to be in the world of business is I would travel to different countries was to understand why there were such enormous disparities in the economic success of various countries. I read a number of books on the topic. One that is widely acclaimed is by someone named Jared Diamond called Guns, Germs and Steel, which basically says the physical characteristics of the land account for the differences in the success of the people that live there. There is iron ore on the land and so forth. And you look at Israel and you say you have a hard time suggesting that all the natural resources on the land could account for all the accomplishment of the people here. And likewise other nations that are next door to each other . very similar, in some cases, geographic outlets.