Palestinian Prime Minister Resigns

[Valin]

Ricochet:

Judith Levy

4/14/13

 

Because things weren't hard enough already for John Kerry.

 

Salam Fayyad, the embattled Palestinian prime minister, has finally thrown in the towel after serving since 2007. For all his appeal to Western eyes and skill rustling up international support, he is despised by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (as well as by the rogues' gallery of Hamas in Gaza, although their opinion is less directly relevant). Fayyad has been struggling to build credible Palestinian institutions essentially on his own all these years, without any politically powerful Palestinian allies. It's a wonder it took him this long to realize the futility of his efforts.

 

This development is deeply awkward for Obama and Kerry, who have decided -- hark, the familiar refrain -- that a magical key to Israeli-Palestinian peace and harmony actually exists somewhere and can be located with the help of good old American gumption. While Fayyad was not directly involved in negotiations with Israel, his image -- ex-IMF economist, US-educated, anti-corruption, distinguished, articulate -- made the dubious narrative of the "peace process" much easier to sell, since Abbas -- the purported "man we can talk to" -- has long since lost any credibility. But Fayyad's popularity abroad, significant as it was, was peanuts compared with the hatred he provoked at home, and he was never likely to win a final showdown with Abbas. Over at Haaretz, Barak Ravid goes into some detail on that relationship and its consequences:

 

 

(Snip)

 

Abbas is no doubt feeling a warm glow of satisfaction over the political demise of his enemy, but he'd be well advised not to break out the champagne just yet. As Ravid notes, Fayyad's departure is likely to increase the hesitation among foreign donors to open their checkbooks, which will only deepen the Palestinian Authority's financial crisis.....(Snip)