Salam Fayyad ( ar, سلام فياض, ; born 1951 or 12 April 1952) is a
Jordanian-
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
politician and former
Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
and Finance Minister.
He was
Finance Minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
from June 2002 to November 2005 and from March 2007 to May 2012. Fayyad was Prime Minister between June 2007 and June 2013.
Fayyad resigned from the cabinet in November 2005 to run as founder and leader of the new
Third Way party for the legislative elections of 2006. The party was not successful, and Fayyad returned as Finance Minister in the
March 2007 Unity Government. Fayyad's first appointment as Prime Minister
on 15 June 2007, which was justified by Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas ( ar, مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen ( ar, أَبُو مَازِن, links=no, ), is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Natio ...
on the basis of "national emergency", was not confirmed by the
Palestinian Legislative Council. His successor,
Rami Hamdallah
Rami Hamdallah ( ar, رامي الحمد الله, Rāmī al-Ḥamd al-Lāh; born 10 August 1958) is a Palestinian politician and academic. He is the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority and president of An-Najah Nationa ...
, was named on 2 June 2013.
Fayyad is a visiting senior scholar and the Daniella Lipper Coules '95 Distinguished Visitor in Foreign Affairs at the
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
.
Early life and education
Salam Fayyad was born in
Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
or
Deir al-Ghusun
Deir al-Ghusun ( ar, دير الغصون) is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate, located eight kilometers northeast of the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank. The town is near the Green Line (border between Israel and the West ...
in northern
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
on 12 April 1952
(according to some sources in 1951
). He graduated from the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
in 1975 and received his
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from
St. Edward's University
St. Edward's University is a private, Catholic university in Austin, Texas. It was founded and is operated in the Holy Cross tradition.
History Founding and early history
St. Edward's University was founded by the Reverend Edward Sorin, CSC ...
in 1980. Fayyad has a PhD in economics, which he received from the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, where he was a student of
William Barnett and did early research on the American
Divisia Monetary Aggregates In econometrics and official statistics, and particularly in banking, the Divisia monetary aggregates index is an index of money supply. It uses Divisia index methods.
Background
The monetary aggregates used by most central banks (notably the US ...
, which he continued on the staff of the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks (Ka ...
.
Career
Fayyad began his teaching career at
Yarmouk University
Yarmouk University ( ar, جامعة اليرموك), also abbreviated YU, is a comprehensive public and state supported university located near the city centre of Irbid in northern Jordan. Since its establishment in 1976, Yarmouk University (YU) ...
in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
. He then worked at the World Bank in Washington from 1987 to 1995 and from 1996 to 2001 as the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
's representative to Palestine based in Jerusalem.
["Profile: Salam Fayyad"]
BBC, 17 June 2007
Fayyad served as the regional manager of the Arab Bank in the West Bank and Gaza until he accepted an offer to become Yasser Arafat's
Finance Minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
in the
Palestinian Authority Government of June 2002
The Palestinian Authority Government of June 2002 was a government of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) from June to September 2002, headed by Yasser Arafat, the President of the Palestinian National Authority.
A number of Ministers resign ...
. He held this post until November 2005, when he resigned from the cabinet to run as founder and leader of the new
Third Way
The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from a ...
party in the
legislative elections of 2006 alongside
Hanan Ashrawi
Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi ( ar, حنان داوود مخايل عشراوي ; born 8 October 1946) is a Palestinian politician, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson ...
and
Yasser Abd Rabbo
Yasser Abed Rabbo ( ar, ياسر عبد ربه) also known by his '' kunya'', Abu Bashar ( ar, ابو بشار) (born 17 September 1945) is a Palestinian politician and a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee ...
. The party yielded little success and only Fayyad and Ashrawi won their seats with only 2.41% of the popular vote. On 17 March 2007, Fayyad was again appointed Finance Minister, this time in the
Fatah-Hamas unity government.
On 15 June 2007, following
Hamas' takeover of Gaza
The Battle of Gaza, also referred to as Hamas's takeover of Gaza, was a military conflict between Fatah and Hamas, that took place in the Gaza Strip between June 10 and 15, 2007. It was a prominent event in the Fatah–Hamas conflict, centered ...
, Fayyad was appointed Prime Minister of a disputed
emergency government, appointed by President Abbas. It was a government without any Fatah or Hamas members, supported by Fatah, Israel and the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
. This appointment was challenged as illegal, because it was not approved by the
Legislative Council as required by the Palestinian Basic Law.
["TEXT-Opinion of lawyer who drafted Palestinian law"]
Reuters, 8 July 2007
End February 2009, Hamas and Fatah
started a new round of talks in Cairo. On 7 March 2009, Salam Fayyad submitted his resignation to pave the way for the formation of a national unity government. Eventually, the negotiations broke down. On 19 May 2009, Fayyad was reappointed as PM in
a new government without Hamas.
On 14 February 2011, Fayyad tendered his government's resignation, two days after PLO negotiator
Saeb Erekat had resigned over the leakage of the
Palestine Papers
The Palestine Papers is a collection of confidential documents about the Israeli–Palestinian peace process leaked to Al Jazeera, which published them between 23 and 26 January 2011. Nearly 1,700 documents from the office of the main PLO neg ...
, and one day after Abbas had unilaterally called for elections before September, without approval by Hamas. Abbas immediately asked Fayyad to form a new cabinet. Both, Fatah and Hamas declared themselves against the plan of Fayyad to form a unity government. On 4 May, however, Abbas and
Khaled Meshal
Khaled Mashal ( ar, خالد مشعل, Khālid Mashʿal, Levantine Arabic: , born 28 May 1956) is a former leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas.
After the founding of Hamas in 1987, Mashal became the leader of the Kuwaiti branch of th ...
signed the
Cairo agreement to form a transitional government of technocrats to prepare for legislative and presidential elections. In June, the negotiations were postponed indefinitely and Abbas changed the focus on a bid for UN recognition for Palestinian statehood in September 2011, instead of forming a unity government. Abbas expressed his concern over a government with any Hamas involvement because of the international opposition to such a government. Pending further Fatah–Hamas negotiations, Fayyad remained PM of the caretaker government.
Following the
February 2012 Doha agreement and the successive May 2012 Cairo accord, which also failed to be implemented, Mahmoud Abbas asked Fayyad to form a new Cabinet, without Hamas' involvement. On 16 May 2012, a reshuffled Cabinet saw the light.
["Fayyad replaced as finance minister in reshuffle"]
JMCC, 16 May 2012 Fayyad gave up his post as Finance Minister in favour of
Nabeel Kassis Nabeel Kassis ( ar, نبيل قسيس), also transliterated as Nabil Kassis, Nabil Qasis, Nabeel Qassis, etc., is a Palestinian academic and politician from Ramallah. He was born 1945.
Academic career
Kassis studied in Germany and Lebanon, earning ...
. The PA faced an estimated financing gap of about $500 million. Eight new ministers were added to the new 21-member cabinet, while two ministers were replaced.
[
On 3 March 2013, Finance Minister Kassis resigned amid deepening economic malaise in the West Bank. The PA faced a huge budget deficit due to insufficient donor funds and financial sanctions regularly imposed by Israel to punish them, and salary payments for some 150,000 PA employees were delayed. Kassis also questioned the state-building agenda adopted by the PA under Fayyad's leadership. On 13 April 2013, PM Fayyad resigned again. Abbas accepted his resignation but asked him to remain as interim prime minister of the Palestinian Authority until a new government could be formed. He resigned because of political differences between him and Abbas over economic policy.]["Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resigns"]
BBC, 13 April 2013 On 6 June 2013, Fayyad was replaced by Rami Hamdallah
Rami Hamdallah ( ar, رامي الحمد الله, Rāmī al-Ḥamd al-Lāh; born 10 August 1958) is a Palestinian politician and academic. He is the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority and president of An-Najah Nationa ...
, who became PM of the Palestinian Authority Governments of 2013
The Palestinian governments of 2013 were two Palestinian governments established respectively in June and September 2013. They ruled ''de facto'' over the West Bank only.
The Palestinian government of June 2013 was led by Rami Hamdallah, appoint ...
.
In September 2017, The Middle East Initiative (MEI) at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs announced that Salam Fayyad, former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, will join the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) community as a Senior Fellow this academic year. As a Senior Fellow, Fayyad will deliver several public and closed addresses, engage with Harvard Kennedy School students, faculty, and affiliates, and participate in various events and activities at MEI, HKS and the broader Harvard campus.
Reform plans, Fayyadism
Between 2007 and 2013, Fayyad introduced as Prime Minister some national reform plans, in media sometimes referred to as "Fayyadism". In 2008, he launched his "Palestinian Reform and Development Plan 2008–2010" (PRDP), a West Bank First strategy, aimed to isolate and weaken Hamas in Gaza by developing the West Bank over Gaza, in compliance with American and Israeli desires. It was based on both firm control by the PA security and a market-based (some would say neoliberal) economic agenda. In 2009 followed the Reform and Development Plan, called "Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State". In 2011, he introduced the subsequent National Development Plan 2011–2013: Establishing the State, Building our Future.[''The Evolution and Reform of Palestinian Security Forces 1993–2013'']
see p. 11, notes 8, 9 and PA references. Alaa Tartir, ''Stability: International Journal of Security & Development'', 4(1): 46, pp. 1–20, 2015
HTML version
/ref>
A major component of Fayyad's plans was modernizing and professionalizing of the Palestinian Security Services
The Palestinian Security Services (PSS) are the armed forces and intelligence agencies of the State of Palestine. They comprise several institutions, notably the Security Forces and the Police. The President of the Palestinian National Authori ...
under the banner of 'One Homeland, One Flag, and One Law'.
2009–2010 reform plans
On 23 August 2009, Fayyad came out with a plan to reform of the fundamental infrastructures of a Palestinian State, called "Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State", in which he detailed a two-year working plan for reinforcing the institutions of the future Palestinian State.[''Fayyad fears for economic achievements'']
Al Bawaba, 5 September 2011 This included, among other elements, a separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
, a free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
, the development of existing infrastructure, and the building of new infrastructure such as government offices, a stock market, and an airport, all with the purpose of establishing a "de facto Palestinian State," based on the premise that the peace talks with Israel were faltering.
In October 2010, ''The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'' published an article by Nathan Thrall
Nathan Thrall is an American author, essayist, and journalist based in Jerusalem. Thrall is the author of ''The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine'' (Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2017; Picador, 2018) and a contri ...
on Fayyad's security strategy. At the center are "special battalions" of the National Security Forces (NSF), referred to by Hamas as "the Dayton forces". The officer in charge of the vetting, training, equipping, and strategic planning of these special battalions was Lieutenant General Keith Dayton
Keith W. Dayton (born March 7, 1949) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army who currently serves as the director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Dayton served a ...
, the United States security coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Security cooperation between Israel and Palestine
The Palestinian Security Services (PSS) are the armed forces and intelligence agencies of the State of Palestine. They comprise several institutions, notably the Security Forces and the Police. The President of the Palestinian National Authori ...
reached unprecedented levels in the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. Together they have largely disbanded Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, attacked Islamic Jihad groups, and all but eliminated Hamas's social institutions, financial arrangements, and military activities in the West Bank.["Our Man in Palestine"]
Nathan Thrall, ''The New York Review of Books'', 14 October 2010
Views of Salam Fayyad
;Views on Palestinian statehood
Fayyad has rejected calls for a binational state and unilateral declaration of statehood:
On 29 June 2011, in contravention of the Palestinian Authority's official position, and that of president Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas ( ar, مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen ( ar, أَبُو مَازِن, links=no, ), is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Natio ...
, Fayyad expressed skepticism about its approach to the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
for a vote on statehood, saying it would be only a symbolic victory.
;Views on religion
In 2007, Fayyad was quoted by ''Forbes'':
Opinions about Salam Fayyad
Fayyad won international and domestic approval for his management of the West Bank. The World Bank credited him with making substantial improvements in Palestinian state institutions.
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global ...
, an American columnist, praised Fayyad for trying to build functioning institutions of a Palestinian state, and not focusing on Israel. Unlike Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
, 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."
He has condemned violence against Israel as detrimental to Palestinian national aspirations, stated that Palestinian refugees could be resettled not in Israel but in a future Palestinian state, and suggested that this state would offer citizenship to Jews.
See also
* Divisia monetary aggregates index
References
External links
Building a Thriving Economy and a Strong Democracy
Lecture by Fayyad at Palestine Center The Palestine Center (previously called the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine until 2002) is an independent educational program based in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C. Their focus is on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and other Middle East ...
in Washington, DC, April 2007
Palestinian Basic Law
selection of links and news
;Articles
*
English
''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'', 1 April 2007
Green Shoots in Palestine by Thomas Friedman
The New York Times, 4 August 2009
Palestine Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State
''Ynet
Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...
'', 25 August 2009
How Salam Fayyad Will Save Palestine--Or Not
Kevin Peraino, Newsweek, 4 September 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fayyad, Salam
1951 births
1952 births
Living people
St. Edward's University alumni
University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni
People from Deir al-Ghusun
People from Nablus
Palestinian Muslims
Yarmouk University faculty
Third Way (Palestinian Authority) politicians
Government ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Foreign ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Finance ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Prime Ministers of the State of Palestine
Members of the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council