Fayyad's performance is facing increasing discontent, says Khaled Amayreh The Palestinian government in Ramallah is engaging in a quiet tug-of-war with the Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. According to sources close to government circles, the "gap" between Fatah and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is "getting wider and deeper" with the passage of each day. "We are talking about the conversion, or even collision, of two different philosophies, two different ways of thinking: one rational, methodical and systematic, which Fayyad represents, and the other -- populist, demagogic, factional, even tribal, represented by the Fatah movement," said a high-ranking official in the Fayyad government. Meanwhile, Fatah leaders have been waging an unrelenting wave of criticisms of the performance of the government, accusing it of a host of failures, including "sidelining Fatah", "pandering to Israel", and "paying little attention to Palestinian public opinion". Some Fatah leaders have charged that Fayyad is harnessing power for the purpose of creating a power base for himself and like-minded friends and allies probably in preparation for the formation of a liberal business-oriented party that observers contend would be mainly at Fatah's rather than Hamas's expense. One of the most oft-repeated grievances voiced by Fatah against Fayyad is his decision to stop paying salaries to some 23,000 Fatah cadres who had been on the PA's payroll since the mid- 1990s when financial and administrative corruption was the modus operandi of the Palestinian self-rule authority. Fayyad dismisses all these accusations as "nonsense", arguing that they are based on old- patterns of thinking (an allusion to Yasser Arafat's era), including factionalism, nepotism, cronyism and demagoguery. In an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV on 2 February, Fayyad said he had no intention of nominating himself for the position of president of the PA. "I will not get myself nominated and I will not form a political party, all I am trying to do is to set an example of good governance in order to give the Palestinian people confidence and hope for a better tomorrow." Fayyad suggested that "previous governments" awarded public jobs irrespective of due process and objective considerations. "I know there is poverty and it is always hard to see people lose their jobs and sources of income. However, you can't fight poverty by creating artificial, un- needed and unproductive jobs. What we have done instead is expand the network of social security and similar services." Furthermore, Fayyad told Al-Arabiya that the PA was ready to re-assume "its responsibility" at the Rafah border-crossing in accordance with a 2005 protocol that more or less enabled Israel to control operations at the border terminal. Fayyad's assertions, which are backed by Abbas, are quite unpopular among most Palestinians, including Fatah supporters, who can't imagine a Palestinian national leadership demanding that Israel retain ultimate control of an exclusively Egyptian-Palestinian border terminal. So far, the balance of power between Fayyad and Fatah is clearly in favour of the former. There are two main reasons: First, Fayyad controls the purse and he is able to arrogate large sums of money for internal "consumption", though the sums are very limited compared to Arafat's era. Fayyad is rumored to be backed by the United States, European Union and Israel that view him as a perfect Palestinian politician who pays more attention to economic matters and less to political issues. Indeed, Israel has always sought to convince the international community that the Palestinian economy ought to be given priority at the expense of complex political issues. Of course, Israel is decidedly malicious about such proposals since the real goal is to build more settlements and expand existing ones while the Palestinians and the world are busy tending to economic matters. Besides, it is hard to imagine how an economy can be built under a foreign military occupation that makes normal travel within the occupied territories nearly impossible. Second, Fayyad is backed by Abbas, to the chagrin of some Fatah leaders who have come to think that Fatah's achievements and assets are being handed over on a silver platter to Fayyad. In fact, criticisms within Fatah have already been directed at Abbas himself for allegedly neglecting the movement in favour of Fayyad. This week, acrimonious recriminations between Abbas supporters and critics within Fatah took place on the pages of the Arab press and also on the Internet. Abu Ali Shahin, an Arafat- era cabinet minister and a Gazan Fatah leader, who is also a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, lashed out at Abbas for "dealing miserably" with the situation in Gaza and "failing to take the right decision at the right time". Shahin also accused certain unnamed Fatah leaders of colluding with Hamas, and exposing Fatah to the "coup-mongers", a reference to Hamas. Hakam Balawi, a veteran Fatah leader from Jenin and member of the group's Central Committee, fought back, calling Shahin a "publicity hound" who is victim of his own "morbid imagination". "Your conceited and ignorant remarks don't warrant any response, but you should be held accountable by the movement because your accusations and allegations are totally baseless." One of the most controversial and unpopular decisions made by the Fayyad government since its advent nearly 7 months ago is a decree requiring Palestinians to pay old electricity, water and other utility bills by the end of January 2008. Those who fail to comply will not be issued any official documents, including birth certificates, driver's or building licences. These bills have been accumulating for the past five years either because consumers couldn't pay due to real poverty or because many people thought that the government would eventually pay for them. This week, tens of thousands of public servants, including more than 30,000 school teachers, began a warning strike demanding the cancellation of the utility bill-clearance decision. The employees, who don't object to the decision in principle, argue that it is unfair and illogical that they are forced to pay accumulated utility bills to local municipal councils and power companies when the government owes them thousands of dollars of unpaid salaries. According to Nasr Abdul-Kareem, an economist, the PA owes public employees more than $300 million in unpaid salaries. "The government would be better off paying that instead of collecting utility bills." Fatah, facing a kind of dilemma, has generally chosen to side with the "masses". Jamal Abul- Rub, a Fatah lawmaker, said, "we are against citizens who refrain from paying their utility bills. But we prefer that the means of collecting those dues be appropriate and take into account the harsh economic conditions facing our people." Abul-Rub is right about the harsh economic conditions. During the past few months, the prices of basic consumer products, such as flour, have skyrocketed by nearly 100 per cent. Needless to say, for the poor, who probably make up three- fourths of Palestinians, this is more than too much. It is unbearable.
