Economic Peace, Said Netanyahu

the International Monetary Fund reluctantly reports that economic conditions in the "Palestinian" territory in the West Bank have begun to improve.

Amazingly enough, this didn’t require an Israeli settlement freeze.

Can we expect to hear some positive remarks on the subject from the State Department spokesman?

notes Rachel Abrams.

Really:-

The West Bank economy can post its best result in several years if Israel continues to relax restrictions on internal trade and movement, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

"Macroeconomic conditions in the West Bank have improved, reflecting a relaxation of Israeli restrictions on internal trade and improved security conditions," the IMF said in a statement that marked a rare positive assessment of the Palestinian economy.

Real GDP growth in the West Bank could stand at seven percent in 2009, compared with some four percent in 2008, if Israel continues easing the massive web of restrictions on the movement of goods and people that it imposed on the Palestinian territory in the wake of the second intifada in 2000.

"This would represent the first significant improvement in living standards in the West Bank since 2006," the statement said.