Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister tonight earned what he described as an international "huge vote of confidence" when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced through video conference from Washington the delivery of $200m in budgetary support to the cash-strapped, donor-dependant Palestinian Authority.
Clinton said the United States has chosen to disburse the funds directly to the Palestinian Authority's treasury as a result of Fayyad's success in undertaking comprehensive reform and his "exceptional two-year track record" of managing funds in an accountable and transparent manner.
The U.S. Consul in Jerusalem Jacob Walles, who signed the agreement to deliver the aid package with Fayyad in Ramallah, said the economic aid to the PA did not replace his country's efforts to reach a political settlement. U.S. envoy George Mitchell would arrive next week as part of efforts to resume deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The U.S. was the largest single donor to the Palestinians in 2008, committing more than $600 in aid at a time when Fayyad was struggling to overcome a financial crisis that almost paralyzed the PA. The situation was aggravated by Israel's war in Gaza.
The PA has reached its borrowing limit after borrowing $350 million from private banks to meet its monthly obligations which include paying salaries of more than 150,000 government workers in the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Not all the funds promised for budgetary support at several donor conferences have materialized.
Western diplomats and Palestinian officials say many Arab donors have been not been forthcoming in helping Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Authority to avoid taking sides in his fight with Hamas and to apply pressure on the two sides to reconcile.
Hamas doesn't seem to be suffering from cash shortage despite the long siege and international isolation imposed on Gaza. It is the people who suffer, both in the West Bank and Gaza.
I asked Fayyad during the press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah following Clinton's announcement of aid disbursement how much the Arabs have paid. He said $95 million, ONLY 16 percent of a total of $606 million in foreign aid received by the PA in 2009.
Fayyad said the budget deficit was $1.5 billion.
Abbas has recently said in an interview to al-Falastiniya Television that Arab reluctance to help the PA meet its financial obligations and their so-called "neutrality" by not publicly blaming the side that captured Gaza by force was not helping reconciliation efforts.
Reconciliation efforts are moving in a vicious circle. The infighting however, is not confined to Hamas and Fatah.
As Fatah prepares to hold its conference on August 4 to elect a new leadership, Fatah candidates for leadership positions are engaged in fierce rivalries.
Fatah has run the affairs of the Palestinians for decades but its humiliating defeat by Hamas in the 2006 elections and Abbas' formation of a government led by Fayyad, a technocrat, has alarmed many Fatah officials. Despite their divisions, many seem to be united in their quest to return to power.
With Gaza under Hamas rule, they want to return to power in the West Bank and lead the government there. After the Fatah conference, Fayyad or any other prime minister will have to implement Fatah's program, I've heard several say.
Great. But have the rest of the Palestinians, those not affiliated with Hamas or Fatah, seen a real reform process taking place within Fatah? Have those who voted for Hamas, not out of ideology but to punish Fatah for alleged corruption and mismanagement, sensed that Fatah has learned from its mistakes that led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza?
The Palestinians and the entire world will be waiting to see whether the new Fatah leadership will return to its people and bridge those gaps that led to its loss.
Fayyad has earned the respect of the international community for putting in place systems of transparency. The aim, he says, is to build the infrastructure of statehood. So far, his efforts seem to be backed by the Western world but undermined by Hamas, Fatah, and the Arabs.
No comments:
Post a Comment