This is just one sign of Israel‘s robust economic expansion. At a time when the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza are teetering on the brink of a collapse, Israeli growth – 6.6 percent GDP rise in the first quarter of 2006 – has returned to the torrid pace set before the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.
It’s also a recognition of a growing separation between the Israeli and Palestinian economies – and Israel’s receding fear of attacks.
It helps when you don’t spend all your time being psychotic killers, flying in the supposed face of your religion. Especially when Saddam is not longer paying families to send their kids off to blow themselves, and Israeli’s, up.
Per-capita income – a measure of the standard of living – is 17 times higher in Israel than among its neighbors from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. That gap is forecast to widen as an economic boycott of the Hamas-led  Palestinian Authority pushes up poverty levels and as foreign investment fuels Israeli prosperity.
The Palestinians have choices: will they make the right one?
Read the rest. Very illuminating.
