One of Friedman's ongoing themes is the importance of realizing capitalism in order to be deserving of human rights; that is to say, until and unless a society is "free" -- in the economic sense of the term he gives it -- then that society is less deserving of respect and even safety (similar to what we hear on the Bernard Lewis Right: attacking non-democratic nations is okay, because somehow the government gets conflated with the governed, a morally absurd platform that holds people responsible for government that is by definition not responsible to them.)
Friedman likes to bring this "perspective" to Palestinians; namely, that Palestine, once it becomes sufficiently business-friendly, will become deserving of independence. In the meantime, as the essay below explains, Palestinians cannot have freedom, because apparently they have been building what Friedman actually describes as "a garbage yard" in place of an actual society. I'm not even kidding, as much as I wish I was. Thought experiment: Can you imagine if Thomas Friedman were alive during the American Revolution? Can you guess whose side he would not be on? Can you imagine what quick work Jefferson or Paine would make of his supposed love of freedom and location of humanity in big business-friendly economic policy?
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