Fayyadism

Palestinian Entity Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is enjoying unprecedented popularity. Truly he is the "darling of the western world."

In a piece he wrote for Tablet Magazine last December Michael Weiss called him “the Palestinian Ben-Gurion."

President Shimon Peres added his own nuance when he addressed the Herzliya Conference in February this year. On that occasion he said "Fayyad is the Palestinians first Ben-Gurionist."

A few weeks ago, Yossi Sarid joined the chorus of Fayyad fans. In an article he wrote for Haaretz he explained why Fayyad is Israel's public enemy number one.

I hasten to add that Sarid wrote in a facetious vein -

"The Palestinian prime minister is gradually undermining and invalidating Israel's traditional arguments: He has brought security, but there is still no peace. He will kill us with moderation."

Salam Fayyad is certainly not the stereotype Palestinian leader we are used to dealing with.

He graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1975 and continued his academic studies in Austin Texas. After his post graduate studies he taught at the Yarmouk University in Jordan. In 1987 he began an eight year tenure with the World Bank. Later he was appointed International Monetry Fund representative to the Palestinian Authority. In 2001 he became the regional manager of the Arab Bank in the West Bank and Gaza before Yasser Arafat appointed him to be the PA's minister of finance.

Fayyad is a technocrat with no affinity to Fatah or any other Palestinian political faction.

What is he doing that has earned him the support and encouragement of a broad swath of Israeli political and economic leaders, the U.S administration, the Quartet and many leaders in the Arab world? Journalist Roger Cohen provided part of the answer in an article entitled – "Fayyad's road to Palestine" published earlier this year in the New York Times . Relating to Salam Fayyad's two year programme launched in August 2009 Cohen said his plan is, "to ready Palestine for statehood by the second half of 2011. It represents a break with past Palestinian failure in that it espouses nonviolence —an ironclad commitment, not a seasonal thing and is focused on prosaic stuff like building institutions (police, schools, a justice system, roads and an economy) rather than exalted proclamations."

A few weeks before Cohen's article appeared in the NYT another op-ed journalist, Thomas L. Friedman described Fayyad's plan in a broad Middle East context. "Underlying the latest U.S.-Israel spat over settlements is the deeper — real — problem: There are five key actors in the Israeli-Palestinian equation today. Two of them — the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the alliance of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah — have clear strategies. These two are actually opposed, but one of them will shape Israeli-Palestinian relations in the coming years; indeed, their showdown is nearing. I hope Fayyad wins. It would be good for Israel, America and the moderate Arabs. But those three need their own strategy to make it happen.

Fayyad is the most interesting new force on the Arab political stage. A former World Bank economist, he is pursuing the exact opposite strategy from Yasir Arafat. Arafat espoused a blend of violence and politics; his plan was to first gain international recognition for a Palestinian state and then build its institutions. Fayyad calls for the opposite — for a nonviolent struggle, for building non-corrupt transparent institutions and effective police and paramilitary units, which even the Israeli Army says are doing a good job; and then, once they are all up and running, declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank by 2011."….

"Therefore, today, Fayyadism, which aims to replace the Israeli occupation of the West Bank with an independent Palestinian state, is the biggest threat to Iran’s strategy. So the smart thing right now would be for the other three parties to have a clear strategy to back Fayyadism."

Marc Tracy who edits a daily blog in Tablet Magazine called "The Scroll" managed to distill the essence of Fayyadism to a single phrase. He says Fayyad wants to change facts and minds on the ground: Then he quotes him directly “A solid majority of Palestinians support a two-state solution, but only a minority believe it will actually happen. Our plan is to create the sense that a Palestinian state is inevitable.”

If I'm not mistaken the term "facts on the ground" was coined during the Clinton era when it referred to the main Jewish settlement blocs that would be included in an exchange of territories preceding the establishment of a Palestinian state.

However Fayyad's detractors, some of them persistent nitpickers, warn that we shouldn't be fooled by his thin veneer of western education and manners and shouldn’t be won over by his eloquence. Eventually he will lull us into a state of false security.

A totally different form of criticism has been levelled at Fayyadism from another direction. Nathan J. Brown, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University questions the means Fayyad uses to reach his goal.

In a recent issue of Commentary published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Brown says the international community’s understandable admiration for Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his efforts to rebuild the West Bank obscures a dangerous regression in democracy and human rights.

Professor Brown took a closer look at Fayyad's achievements during a recent visit to the West Bank. He contends that the United States is once again confusing support for an admirable individual with that of a sound policy.

Brown concludes that Fayyad's government is circumventing democracy. "The unaccountable governing process that Fayyad has had to invent is not just postponing a democratic system—it is actively denying it."
"Isolated successes do not create rule of law. The increasing number of cases seen and submitted to the courts indicates growing efficiency and confidence, but security services continue to act outside the law under the guise of cracking down on Hamas." Regarding the latter point few people in Israel would agree with Brown.

"Irregularities" in the elections that took place recently in Egypt, Jordan and Iraq seem to indicate that the democratic system is a hard to sell commodity in this part of the world.
Surprisingly Brown contends that there is a lack of institution building. "While Fayyad’s cabinet has managed to make a few existing institutions more effective and less corrupt, there has been regression in other governing bodies. Palestinian civil society is showing signs of decay as well. "

Brown claims there was more institution building and civil society development under Yasser Arafat than there has been since the West Bank-Gaza split in 2007. Maybe he is right, but the sense of wellbeing, security and of course the facts on the ground distinguish the Fayyad era from the troubled times of Yasser Arafat.

Fadi Elsalameen, a research fellow with the New America Foundation's American Strategy Program, came to Fayyad's defence. Fayyadism is not authoritarianism he claims

"Faced with underlying problems from Fatah party politics, the split with Hamas, and the ubiquitous Israeli occupation, I would argue that it has been Fayyad's leadership that has kept the Palestinian Authority functioning. Palestine is still in process, and Fayyad is working tirelessly to curtail corruption in the ministries to maintain the rule of law. Misuses and abuses are expected while the state is being built, but on the ground one can already see the fruits of Fayyad's labors."

As December draws to a close various government ministries are attempting to sum up their achievements. Armed with only approximate figures, the ministry of tourism claims that 2010 has been a record breaking year for tourism. More than 3 million tourists visited Israel this year, 700,000 more than in 2009 Some 2.4 million of them are Christian pilgrims. After many lean years Bethlehem is benefiting from the increase in tourism, some of it an overflow from the Israeli tourist boom.

Have a good weekend and if you are celebrating Christmas please accept my felicitations.

Beni 23^rd of December, 2010.

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