My source was right: Gaza economic growth is outstripping "Fayyadist" West Bank

By Ali Abunimah

"Back in June, a diplomatic source very close to these matters told me the following, as I reported on this blog at the time:

"World Bank figures due to be published in coming weeks are likely to show that economic growth in the Gaza Strip in the first quarter of 2010 has exceeded that in the West Bank. While virtually all economic growth in the West Bank is a result of foreign aid, much of the growth in Gaza is attributable to a "parallel economy" that has emerged thanks to the tunnels. This has even created a small new class of nouveaux riches in Gaza."

It appears the source was completely correct. In an article headlined "IMF: Gaza's economy shoots up by 16% in 2010," Haaretz reports....

As I explained in a recent LA Times op-ed, Salam Fayyad's "state building" is an illusion and the real agenda of the Zionist supporters and boosters of "Fayyadism," is clear: it is to promote the fiction of imminent Palestinian independence and prosperity under a quisling regime in order to cover-up the reality of permanent and deepening Israeli colonization and control. That is the only purpose Salam Fayyad serves and no other. His job is thus identical to that of the bantustan leaders in apartheid South Africa. The only difference is that Fayyad, unlike the bantustan leaders, has support from the so-called "international community." But never mind – all the laudatory columns by Thomas Friedman and his ilk cannot clothe this naked emperor."