Salam Fayyad, the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority is reaching out to Israel in trying to stabilize the West Bank. The history of this conflict has been full of false promises of hope, but there is reason to have cautious optimism that Fayyad is willing to engage in the long and hard work of making Palestine a livable place again.
The Palestinians have to dismantle their institutionalized death cult and start putting their resources together in building their society up rather than trying to tear down Israel. Palestine has been drained of civil society, devastated by war, and the children of Palestine have been turned into pawns in a futile war of extermination. Prime Minister Fayyad has much work to do to make Palestine a place of peace and prosperity rather than a pit of devastation and despair.
However, the schism between Hamas and Fatah is an opportunity as well as a crisis. Hamas’ popularity is plummeting and their dreams of a Gaza made in the image of the Taliban’s Afghanistan will only hurt them all the more. The Palestinians are finally realizing that the people who have been keeping them down all these years are not the Israelis, but the cynical Arab nations who have been using them as mere pawns on their proxy war against Israel.
The prospect of peace will remain elusive for some time, but Fayyad has so far shown a good-faith effort to make real change. He will have many challenges ahead of him, but if he can act with strength and determination, he has a chance to found a new Palestine from the ashes of the old.
