Fayyad Resignation Bad For Us
Salaam Fayyad (Photo: Wikipedia/ Pmfayyad)
Dov Weisglass, former bureau chief for former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, writes in Yediot Achronot that the recent resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad – who, for his faults, was less enamored of violence than other Palestinian leaders and far more committed to ethical stewardship of PA funds – is bad for the PA, the Palestinian people, and Israel:
Comments (2) »Fayyad created a revolution in the Palestinian lifestyle and in Israel-PA relations. The security forces were reorganized: The “Intifada generation” was replaced with worthy people, who were trained to do their jobs; the armed gangs dominating the streets were driven away and crime was terminated; the terrorism against Israelis from Judea and Samaria came to an almost complete halt; the government and public fund management underwent a fundamental reform; the “family” monopolies controlling imports and trade were dissolved. For all this, and more than once, Fayyad nearly paid with his life.
Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 9:12 AM | Stand For Israel
After Fayyad
Photo: Flickr/ World Economic Forum
Elliott Abrams, President George W. Bush’s former National Security Advisor, takes to the pages of The Weekly Standard for an extended look at what will become of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian leadership, and the prospects for peace with Israel now that Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad – whose positions on Israel were slightly less strident than the terrorists, but who could be trusted with public funds and was respected in international financial circles – has resigned.
Comments (5) »From the Arabs, Fayyad always got remarkably little. American and European foreign aid levels were very high, but Arab support was always a day late and a few hundred million dollars short. Fayyad’s own integrity and his insistence on rooting out corruption largely killed the old excuse of the rich Arab oil exporting nations, that they would not give because their money would be stolen. But very few of them ever met their pledges, or met them on time, or increased them when the price of oil and therefore their own budget surpluses jumped. The cause of Palestine was great for speeches but less alluring when it came to writing checks.
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013 at 9:44 AM | Stand For Israel
Fayyad’s Exit Signals Oslo’s Bankruptcy
Photo: Flickr/ World Economic Forum
Jonathan Tobin, writing at Commentary, points out the significance of the now-fait-accompli departure of Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad – he calls it a “pivotal moment in the history of the conflict.” Tobin notes that Fayyad – who, by the low bar of Palestinian culture is considered a moderate – had been the Western hope for a technocratic Palestinian state. What we’re left with now is the same bunch of corrupt terrorists we had before.
Comments (2) »The only question is whether those pushing Israel to further empower the now Fayyad-less PA will draw the only possible conclusion from these events and understand that the two-state solution that could conceivably solve the conflict must await a sea change in Palestinian politics that will allow another Fayyad to emerge and succeed.
Monday, April 15th, 2013 at 9:02 AM | Stand For Israel
Fayyad Resignation Underscores Deep Schisms Within Fatah
Photo: Wikipedia/ Pmfayyad
Elhanan Miller, writing at the Times of Israel, points to the recent resignation (which may or may not actually happen) of Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, who embodies what passes for moderation in Palestinian political life, as evidence of a continuing rift between factions within the Fatah party which controls most of the West Bank.
Comments (2) »Tensions between Abbas and Fayyad, an American-trained economist and political independent who enjoys the confidence of the West, have resulted in numerous resignation announcements in the past, none of which has materialized. Some skeptical observers believed that this new resignation was just another public relations maneuver by the disgruntled prime minister.
Friday, April 12th, 2013 at 8:39 AM | Stand For Israel
The Palestinian Shadow Game
Photo: Flickr/ World Economic Forum
Jonathan Tobin, writing in Commentary, says that the latest Palestinian precondition-setting is another attempt to avoid negotiation – a continuation of a long-standing Palestinian policy of refusing to make peace while trying not to look like they refuse to make peace by refusing to negotiate for peace. Preconditions either: 1) avoid the problem of negotiation; or, 2) allow Palestinians to win major concessions without even having to negotiate.
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