From: makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (David Makowsky)
Subject: Re: Who are the Occupiers?
Reply-To: makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (David Makowsky)
Organization: Arizona State University, Tempe AZ
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 03:50:23 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.015310.24349@cs.anu.edu.au> bdm@cs.anu.edu.au writes:

# In article 2121@ennews.eas.asu.edu, makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (David Makowsky) writes:

# >In article <1992Sep8.083454.16699@cs.anu.edu.au> bdm@cs.anu.edu.au writes:

# ># In article 2298@ennews.eas.asu.edu, makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (David Makowsky) writes:

# ># >In article <1992Sep8.032516.13425@cs.anu.edu.au> bdm@cs.anu.edu.au writes:

# ># >(of course, they would have a lot of explaining
# ># >to do for how they grew to today's numbers, similar to how the number
# ># >of people who were at Don Larsen's perfect World Series game is now in
# ># >the millions).
 
# ># It is quite well understood.  The vast improvement in living conditions
# ># and public health that occurred during the period 1880-1930 meant that
# ># the high infant mortality rate fell and the life expectancy grew.

# >	Gee, I wonder what lead to the increase in living conditions and
# >public health.  It was European standrards, but I would just love for
# >you to claim it was via missionaries.
 
# Basically, it was the economic conditions and agrarian reforms brought 
# about by the Ottoman and British administrations, from what I've read.

	Who do ou think were the ones transporting and implementing
these?

# Another important factor was the sudden cessation of military conscription
# (Moslems only, btw) when the Ottomans were kicked out; it created quite
# a baby boom.

	But where specifically?  And guess what.  Cessation of military
conscription, in the abscence of war, only transfers births, it does
not create them (I should not have to explain why).

# The influx of European knowledge and capital due to Jewish 
# immigration also played a part but there is little evidence it was 
# significant before about 1930.

	I do not know how you can claim this.  If it was not significant
in the late 1800's Jewish immigration would have fallen flat on its
face and stoped completely.

# I don't know about missionaries.

# ># Meanwhile, the exceptional birth rate (more than 7 births per woman)
# ># continued.  Claims that the observed rate of increase was impossible
# ># were destroyed when Israeli Arabs displayed an even greater rate of
# ># increase during the 1950s.

# >	The number of births is not at issue.  I would be willing to bet
# >that prior to the 1880's it was even greater (increases in health and
# >living conditions, which even you admit took place, lead to fewer
# >pregnancies, not more).  It is survival that matters not conceptions.
 
# The combination of high birth rates and high death rates makes a 
# population fluctuate very rapidly when conditions change.

	But guess which way it fluctuates.  Hint:  Infants die, but they
cannot reproduce.  In the short term (the very short term) population
may increase.  But then the curve drops sharply (parts of Africa today
can serve as a current example).

# >	A more apt comparison would be to the liberated territories since
# >1967.  I wonder why Arabists such as yourself never use these
# >numbers in such discussions.  The answer is fairly logical.

# From (imperfect) memory, the book by Dov Friedlander contains data on
# that.  Why don't you look it up for us.

	I do not need to.  My question is why are these data not used by
Arabists, not what are these data.  The silence speaks volumes.

# By the way, according to my
# dictionary, an "Arabist" is "an authority on Arabia and the Arabs or
# on the Arabic language and literature".   Thanks for the compliment,
# but I don't deserve it.

	Well, one most people use the term, the mean someone who claims to
be an authority (an in your case, the claim is implicit, but valid).
Whether or not they are an authority is irelevent.  Of course, I am
not aware of the precise dictionary definition.
--

David Makowsky
makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu
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