Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad is everywhere. His plan to develop economic, political, social, and security institutions has rapidly caught the world’s attention over the last year and Fayyad is slowly gaining ground among the Palestinian population — all this from a man who was appointed to his position because of the dismal popularity he had within Palestinian circles.
Fayyad has expressed his desire to unilaterally declare independence from Israel within two years, and the clock is ticking. But, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who appointed Fayyad to serve in a shell capacity, has been increasingly agitated with Fayyad and flatly reject the unilateral sovereignty approach. In a recent interview, Fayyad said:
“Returning to the question, opting for two years and not five years for instance, this represented a challenge and gave the project credibility and seriousness. It was necessary to define a time frame. The political theory I go by is that if we manage to remedy all the shortcomings and factors of failure or self-inflicted failure, we would have wrested from Israel’s hands the arguments and justifications it marketed to the international community for long years about our inefficiency, unworthiness, or lack of qualifications.”
This quote embodies Fayyad’s entire mantra. He wants the Palestinians to take ownership over their future and statehood and not wait for Israeli handouts. If Fayyad can establish the institutions needed for statehood and maintain enough security precautions for Israel, he will truly accomplish a great feat.
Last month was Israeli Independence Day and, in only 60 years in existence, Israel has become a leader on the world stage. In fact, in Israel’s first decade in existence, the country was put on a path to develop a nuclear program, a capability other countries have not come close to developing. If the Palestinians, by taking control over their destiny, can achieve anything similar, they will transform their perception on the world stage from victims to leaders, particularly in the Arab World.
However, Fayyad also says something troubling:
“We have realized from the first moment that the mission will be difficult. We are under occupation and this occupation will not facilitate the task for us. On the contrary, the occupation will be the biggest hindering factor. This is why we have not wagered on Israel helping us. We were right in our expectation. Israel did not give us any help but hampered our efforts.”
His assertion is that Israel has done nothing. Quite the contrary. Israel and the world have funneled money and aid to the Palestinians, a large portion of which was swindled and stolen, largely by former PLO Chair Yasser Arafat who stashed his savings in Europe and now his widow is living like a queen while the Palestinians are only now beginning to develop institutions. Similarly, Israel has attempted to help the Palestinians. For example, the IDF pulled out of Gaza and the Palestinians have not developed that area, in large part thwarted by Hamas’ oppression.
Granted, Israel’s assistance only goes so far. The blockade on the Gaza Strip has prevented any sort of viable economy to develop, with the people living in poverty and no path toward success (that said, Hamas is still launching rockets into southern Israel). Similarly, road blocks in the West Bank hinder commerce and occasionally, at the IDF’s whim, the border crossings into the West Bank are closed for day’s on end, often with little notice. No economy can fully develop under those conditions, but to assert that Israel has done nothing is patently false.