Israel envoy to U.S. hails Palestinian economic growth in West Bank

The impressive economic growth in the West Bank could not have been made possible without the Palestinian clampdown on terrorism and the subsequent removal of roadblocks and checkpoints, Israel's ambassador to the U.S. said on Monday.

In an op-ed piece which appeared in Monday editions of The Wall Street Journal, Michael Oren praised the Palestinian Authority for its "responsible fiscal policies" and for fostering "a vastly improved security environment."

"The seeds of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called 'economic peace' are, in fact, already blossoming in the commercial skyline of Ramallah," Oren wrote.

Netanyahu's championing of an "economic peace" has drawn criticism from the Palestinians, who claim that the notion of focusing on economic growth in the West Bank is an Israeli ploy to avoid offering concessions in peace negotiations. Oren, however, writes that the improvement in Palestinian quality of life is the first step toward statehood.

"Negotiators focus on the 'top down' issues, grappling with legal and territorial problems," Oren wrote in The Wall Street Journal. "But the West Bank's population is building sovereignty from the bottom-up, forging the law-enforcement, civil, and financial institutions that form the underpinnings of any modern polity."