Palestine: Fayyad’s “Mirage”

Responding to Kenneth Chasen’s piece last week on the success of the Fayyad administration, Ali Abunimah writes that much of what Chasen saw during his visit to Ramallah was “a mirage”. Despite apparent development, the economy is still weak and institutions that Fayyad is credited with building are “hollow”. Abunimah specifically takes umbrage with Chasen’s assertion that Fayyad’s authoritarian style is necessary for progress: “Chasen acknowledges that Fayyad rules in an ‘authoritarian’ way, but this is putting it mildly. Last Wednesday, Palestinian Authority thugs raided a meeting of dozens of Palestinian political activists opposed to the authority taking part in new direct talks with Israel…”. The author also points to a recent Carnegie Foundation analysis that states that Fayyad’s regime “is not just postponing a democratic system; it is actively denying it.”