Two countries, side by side

You probably won't see something like this emerging from the Palestinians anytime soon:

Alzheimer's disease is degenerative and leads to a collapse of brain functions. A new Israeli computer program attempts to slow down deterioration in patients' brains.

The computerized system, which was developed by students from the engineering faculty at Ben-Gurion University, projects images, sounds, and texts from the patient's past and stimulates him to remember past events.

The computer system, which is designed for the use of patients and their families, includes a computer and touch-screen monitor installed with information from the patient's life; when operating it patients can view and react to images, sounds, and texts. The system was developed by two students, Moshe Barel and Yoni Epstein.

That may be because they're so busy doing this:

Two Israeli teenage girls escaped a kidnapping attempt Thursday at a hitchhiking post located at the Rahelim Junction in Samaria.

An initial investigation carried out by the IDF revealed that three Palestinians from Jenin arrived by car to the bus station and tried forcing the girls into the car at gunpoint.

The two resisted and one of the girls, 15-year-old Emuna Shachar of Jerusalem, sustained light injuries as a result. The gunmen were apprehended following a pursuit carried out by IDF forces.

By the way, I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be that, in Israel, hitchhiking was an entirely acceptable way to get around.  It's not a foolish activity, for the most part.  And indeed, you'll notice that the article refers to a "hitchhiking post" — a sort of official stopping spot.

I know that the anti-Israel contingent will happily tell me that the intellectual stultification that characterizes the West Bank is all Israel's fault (indeed, as we're hearing regularly, everything is all Israel's fault).  I don't buy that.  The Palestinians have had money pouring into them from the whole world, all of which seems to have vanished into suitcases.  Not only that, Israel has moved into the top tiers of science despite being a country perpetually, and without cessation, under seige since her inception in 1948.  It's just that, while Palestians have chosen to pour their whole beings into malice and death-dealing, Israelis have opted to live.  It's quite a difference, and those who are hostile to Israel and embrace the Palestinians may want to consider this difference for a few minutes.  (Those on the Left may also want to consider Islamic malice to homosexuals, an attitude that is sure to exist in the increasingly Islamically militant Left, er, West Bank.)