Gaza : Taiwan of the Middle East?

I can’t help it. I find the question of whether Taiwan is more similar to Israel or Palestine intriguing, even though one can also easily claim that it’s similar to both or to neither. Aluf Ben has an interesting article in Haaretz from a few days back titled “The Taiwan of the Middle East” :

Three years after the disengagement, the Taiwan of the Middle East is taking shape in the Gaza Strip – a "rebellious province" of the Palestinian Authority whose government is not internationally recognized, subject to meddling by regional and international superpowers.

Gaza and Taiwan? The comparison seems absurd. One is a fenced-off enclave of 1.5 million poor, unemployed Palestinians, the other is an economic tiger. One is characterized by street battles and violence, the other is a state of law. In one, a terrorist organization is consolidating its rule by force, the other has elections and changes of government.

But it is a mistake to compare Gaza to the peaceful, developed Taiwan of today. Rather, one must remember the circumstances in which Taiwan was established as an independent entity almost 60 years ago: It emerged from a civil war that broke out following the end of a foreign occupation. It, too, experienced severe violence, a repressive government and a shattered economy.

Just like the Fatah government in Ramallah and Hamas in Gaza, the two Chinese governments – in Taipei and Beijing – also both claimed to be the legitimate ruler of all China, and each demanded that the world boycott the other. Taiwan exists today thanks to American patronage, without diplomatic recognition, and subject to constant fear that continental China, which views it as a rebellious province, will once again try to take it over. Taiwan’s economic boom preceded that of mainland China by a generation and served as a model for it.
In Gaza, a similar situation is developing. Hamas is consolidating its rule, ignoring the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and claiming legitimacy as the party that won the last election. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) enjoys international recognition as the president of all Palestinians, in the West Bank and Gaza alike, and denies the legality of the Hamas government, but has no power or standing in Gaza. […]

Does that seem delusional? Why? After all, Gaza has no raw materials, but it does have the most valuable resource of the 21st century: a young, energetic population with free time. Just like Taiwan after the Chinese civil war. It is both necessary and possible to teach Gaza residents to test and develop software at competitive prices. High-tech exports require no physical shipping. You hit "send," and the file is on its way – without trucks, checkpoints, X-ray machines or political restrictions. […]

Delusional? Absurd? Look at Taiwan.

Some interesting points. Going along with his suggestion to compare Gaza to Taiwan of the late 40s, the one notable differences has to do – IMHO – with the government. Chiang Kai Shek came into Taiwan with millions of soldiers to receive rule from the oppressive Japanese with a somewhat obedient population that was further silenced in the 228 incident till the 80s. The strong dictator running the country, ironically, is what allowed Taiwan – as well as South Korea and Singapore BTW – to grow to the economic tigers that they are today, by providing stability that led to prosperity. Some say this is the same process the bigger China is growing through today. The tragedy of the Palestinian story is their internal politics. From a potentially independent country that could have been setup with Israel in 1948 we arrived at where we are today – West Bank and Gaza Strip controlled by two different violent organizations that hate each other almost as much as they hate Israel. Though Israel’s a side in this story as well as the Arab countries, the Palestinians, theoretically, could maybe have gone through something similar to Taiwan. In a way, this is what happened with the neighboring Egypt, Jordan and Syria, even though they bet on the wrong USSR horse and focused on a different direction.

Reading through the awful comments to the Hebrew version of the article (Israelis love to call those “talk-backs”) I can see just how sensitive this comparison is, especially due to the extensive Palestinian use of terror and the nature of the conflict. While the Chinese and Taiwanese share ethnicity and traditions, the Israelis and Palestinians have a much wider gap to overcome. While China sees Taiwan as an integral part of China, Israel – for as long as I’m politically aware – never had official claims over the Gaza strip (if anything, it was a mistake not to give it back to Egypt when Sinai was returned) and although a bit different – something similar could be said about 80% of the West Bank and Jordan.

Anyways, back to the point I was going to make at the beginning. The story of the Taiwanese people, although having its own tragic aroma with their dictators and what’s happening with China now, is also very impressive, and one that I strongly sympathize with. Things could have been much worse for Taiwan, and although – sadly – they still could be, what’s been happening with Taiwan since the 80s is almost a miracle. Chinese Taipei, China Taipei, China or no China, Taiwan can thank the Daoist Gods for not being Palestine. Hopefully, both will find the path out of their political mess.