This report explains that, in the midst of a worldwide recession, there is one locale with a remarkable record of robust growth:

The economy in Palestinian West Bank remains on course to grow about 7 percent this year, for the first growth since 2005, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In notes to media accompanying a report the IMF will present to donors at the United Nations on Sept. 22, the international lending agency said on Sunday achieving the projected figure largely depended on Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.

“For the first time since 2005, there is a realistic chance that the downward trend in Palestinians’ living standards in the West Bank can be reversed in the near future, provided that [Israeli] restrictions on movement and access continue to eased,” said Oussama Kanaan, the IMF’s representative in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian officials have continued to press for the relaxation of check points, an issue Bibi Netanyahu has addressed, as he agreed he would. As the report notes, “Declaring it wanted to shore up the economy in the West Bank, where Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas holds sway, Israel has removed several major military roadblocks, easing the flow of Palestinian traffic in the territory.”

One would think the Obama administration would seek to build on this success, recognize the progress made, and tout the efforts of Israel and Palestinians. But instead, the Obama administration continues to harp on the issue of Israel’s settlements, which when not resolved in absolute terms, merely fuels Palestinian rejectionism and victimology. A U.S. official writing on the aftermath of the failed peace talks at Camp David in 2001 explained the trap:

It is not, as Abba Eban said, that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It is that in always feeling victimized they fall back on blaming everyone else for their predicament. It is never their fault. History may not have been kind or fair to the Palestinians. They have suffered and been betrayed by others. They are, surely, the weakest player with the fewest cards to play. But by always blaming others, they never have to focus on their own mistakes. And that perpetuates the avoidance of responsibility, not its assumption.

That same official counseled in 2007 that rather than seeking a maximalist solution, the better course is to “enhance effectiveness, organization and delivery of services at the local level for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank,” press for reform within the Palestinian Authority, and continue to open up “movement in certain areas as Palestinians demonstrate the capacity or are helped to perform on security.” It makes no sense, he advised, to go about “pushing for an objective that is demonstrably not achievable.” After all, “this administration does not need one more far-reaching, transformational objective in the Middle East that would quickly be revealed as hollow. Instead, now is the time to redefine our objective.” What we should be doing is making the West Bank “a model of success to show Palestinians and others in the region that moderates deliver and Islamists do not.”

The author of all those quotes is, of course, Dennis Ross. So it remains a mystery why his views—and the obvious progress being made on the ground in the West Bank—do not inspire the Obama administration’s efforts. That advice, forged in the failure of “peace process” negotiations over multiple administrations, has been cast aside. The alternative adopted by the Obama administration (in addition to the embarrassing refusal to deal with the lethal threat posed by Iran) is a new anti-Israel propaganda and diplomatic offensive and the fruitless search for the very type of grand deal that Ross rightly concluded was simply not in the cards. Maybe Ross believes the magnificence of Obama’s personal charisma will magically open the door to a grand deal. Or maybe the views put forth by Ross have been cast aside by those who simply have a fond desire to draw close to the “Muslim world” regardless of the consequences.

But whatever the rationale, the results are inescapable: the Israeli government, working in concert with authorities on the West Bank, has made remarkable progress in trying circumstances. Obama’s gambit has been a failure to date. Maybe it’s time for some “self-reflection” and a change in policy.