In an exceptionally candid interview to the New York Times, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad described the history of the Palestinian people as "a story of failed leadership, from way early on"

"It is incredible that the fate of the Palestinian people has been in the hands of leaders so entirely casual, so guided by spur-of-the-moment decisions, without seriousness," he added.

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Fayyad's honest answers sounded like a historical introspection. "We don’t strategize, we cut deals in a tactical way and we hold ourselves hostage to our own rhetoric,” the Palestinian PM lamented.





Salam Fayyad sitting next to Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: EPA)

In the interview, Fayyad recounted his meeting with United States President Barack Obama on March. "I told President Obama the shack must come before the skyscraper,” Fayyad said.

“The Israelis have not rolled back the occupation gene. Let’s make sure our Bedouin population in the Jordan Valley has access to drinking water before we discuss final arrangements."





Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Gettyimages)

According to Fayyad, the US should press Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a straightforward answer to his view regarding a Palestinian state.

From Netanyahu's few indications, said the New York Times article, such a state would not include the major Israeli settlement blocs, or have control over the strategic Jordan Valley (some 25 percent of the West Bank). All of greater Jerusalem would remain Israeli. Palestine would be demilitarized.

“A state of leftovers is not going to do it,” Fayyad declared.

According to him, Netanyahu should tell Israelis that "Yes, it is true we have a contract with God Almighty who gave us the land, but there happen to be 4.4 million other people on this land who want to exercise their right to self-determination, so perhaps we can adjust the divine contract a little.”

Nevertheless, Fayyad stressed that a Palestinian state could not be raised without Palestinian unity. According to him, Hamas must renounce violence.

Then there would be “conditions for takeoff that would not be perfect, but when did the perfect ever prevail?” Fayyad said.

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