The international financial press and propaganda machine of Israel crown the state as the "start-up nation". To understand the meaning of it these days we should remember, on the eve of the signing of the the "gas agreement layout", the difficult years beore the current economic realities.
1968-1973 - During these five years the State of Israel was supposed to celebrate its victory in the Six Day War. The military achievement was dissolved in the War of Attrition with Egypt, international boycott, and the development of Palestinian terrorism that culminated in the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Economically it was the peak years, when Israel had oil supplies in the Gulf of Suez which provided all the needs, and the defense budget was reduced. Sinai has provided countless potential for employment, prosperity and residence and it seemed that every citizen has come to rest and tranquility.
1973-1978 - During these five years the country faced a grave combined defense, economic and political crisis. Results of Yom Kippur War forced the state to greatly increase the defense budget, relying on loans and grants from the United States and to deal with international boycott, which peaked with the declaration of Zionism as racist on UN podium. Its arrow head was OPEC cartel that had raised oil prices to a level that forced most countries to limit the use of private transport.
1978-1983 - During these five years, after the peace agreement with Egypt and the full granting of the Sinai Peninsula for a document, some believed that the good intentions of Menachem Begin bring will desirable results, and the state will recover quickly from the the political-economic-social-defense crisis. It was not what happened. Uncertainty about the intentions of the Egyptians led to continued high defense budget, OPEC cartel became stronger, together with increased dependence of Israel on the United States. Israelis migrated in masses abroad. But worst of all was the destructive inflation of hundreds percents a year, which raged in those years and has caused irreparable damage. Causes of the inflation were not yet been clarified, although that citizens thought that the government prints paper money backed by grants from the US. It was accompanied by serious a case of corruption known as ''the bank shares crisis'' that led to the conviction of the largest banks of running their shares. First Lebanon War began with the invasion of Beirut, in what appeared to be a political distraction. The country was on the verge of collapse, but the founding generation, who knew much more difficult times, did not failed to meet the test again.
1983-1988 - IDF soldiers in the reserves, so deeply sunk in the Lebanese mud, realized that it is "the same lady with another dress'' and thought of new mind patterns which will provide insights and tools for the future. Original thinking of few individuals formulated the starting process of changing the sad reality.
1988-1993 - the revolutionary mind change in Israel as a result of Lebanon war led to a global chain reaction, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the blessed immigration of one million Jews to Israel. The intelectual efforts made in order to deal with their absorption was at the expense of solution of structural problems in society and economy and the awakening of reactionary forces from various sectors.
1993-1998 - Cancellation of the "Lavi" aircarft project gave the signal to launch the first Intifada. Palestinians, in the two Intifadas, slaughtered helpless Jews and the government was powerless. From Lebanon and the Gaza Strip landed consant attacks of rockets on Israel, with no solution in sight. In the defense chaos the immigration from the Soviet Union got estqblished, togehther with the reactionary forces that have arisen. Privatization process gave to few tycoons families the best state assets. Religious reaction was on the rise, together with huge budgets to religous settelments. The most significant reaction occurs in the field of urban and regional planning, which continued to be utterly neglected. Neglect in planning has created a clash between two territorial masses of Israelis and Palestinians, which has become a form of terrorism.
1998-2003 - The people were "Waiting for the Messiah" and the messiah came in the form of "Internet". The Internet has created the socio-economic transformation that the generation of IDF soldiers in Lebanon were looking for. The PC plus Internet had become the tool which allowed expanding the mind to horizons hitherto unknown in the history of mankind. Borders limits were erased and it allowed for working from home and for many Israelis jobs were created in this way. The Startup Nation was born.
2003-2008 - The process of globalization Internet has created became central to economic and social development world wide. Global balance of power changed with the rise of China, the formation of the European Union and the creation of online commerce and social networking. The relative advantage of the state of Israel faded.
2008-2013 - There is a serious housing shortage in Israel and the government is trying to encourage the Israeli entrepreneurial flair through "urban renewal" programs, a failed venture that leave the people at the mercy of real estates sharks.
2013 onwards - The circle of poverty is widening and the country's demographic is crystallized to three blocks, equal in size and power more or less: Secular, Religious, Arab. The secular block, which established the state and was a demographic majority and its economic engine, is completely eroded under the title: "The middle class has disappeared".
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