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living & working in Ramallah/Al-Bireh, Palestine

Are Palestinians Building a State?

by | July 2, 2010 | Latest News

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace  

Are Palestinians Building a State?  

Nathan J. Brown  

Commentary, July 01, 2010  

FOR FULL TEXT: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/palestinian_state1.pdf

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. Just back from the West Bank, Nathan J. Brown contends that the United States is once again confusing support for an admirable individual with that of a sound policy. 

Key Conclusions 

* Government 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. 

* 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.  Ironically, there was more institution building and civil society development under Yasser Arafat than there has been since the West Bank-Gaza split in 2007. 

* Disillusionment increasing among Palestinians. Popular support for Fayyad is growing but he still has no organized base. And Palestinians are increasingly cynical about the prospects for long-term development. 

* Fatah is in disarray. The party remains bitterly divided. Party leaders recently forced Fayyad’s cabinet to cancel local elections when Fatah could not organize itself on time. 

“To the extent that Fayyadism is building institutions, it is unmistakably doing so in an authoritarian context,” writes Brown. “There is no reason to associate Fayyad personally with the most egregious aspects of this new authoritarianism, but there is no way his cabinet could have been created or sustained in a more democratic environment.” 

“Palestinian authoritarianism in 2010 is different from Palestinian authoritarianism under Arafat—it is less venal and probably less capricious. But it is also more stultifying.” 

Source: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=41093

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Author

  • Sam Bahour

    Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business consultant, writer, and commentator based in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine. He is the principal of Applied Information Management (AIM), a consultancy specializing in business development and startup advisory services.

    Bahour played a foundational role in establishing two of Palestine’s publicly traded companies: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He co-founded Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE), of which he is now an emeritus member, and served as an independent director on the board of Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. from 2004 to 2025. He currently serves on the board of Just Vision and The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS).

    He frequently gives talks to delegations visiting Palestine on the subjects of Palestine’s political economy, Palestinian Politics 101, and a general orientation to the state of affairs under Israeli military occupation.

    A prolific writer on Palestinian affairs, Bahour has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera America, Le Monde diplomatique, Al-Monitor, +972 Magazine, The Hill, and Arab News. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, CNN, BBC, and other broadcast media.

    Bahour is the co-editor of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (Olive Branch Press, 1993) and was profiled in the bestselling anthology Kingdom of Olives and Ash, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, in a chapter authored by Chabon titled “The Tallest Man in Ramallah.” He holds an Associate’s and Bachelor’s degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University, and a Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA — a joint program of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.

    He tweets at @SamBahour, blogs at www.epalestine.ps, and may be reached at sbahour[AT]gmail[DOT]com.

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