Salam Fayyad, the former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, has recently been subjected to legal bullying by Mahmoud Abbas, who sees him as a potential rival. Khaled Abu Toameh explains why Fayyad is, and is not, a real threat:
Following his resignation as prime minister, the U.S.-educated Fayyad established a Ramallah-based group called Future for Palestine. According to Fayyad, the group’s mission is to “enhance the resilience of Palestinian citizens in their homeland, especially in marginalized and severely impacted areas, by providing the basic development requirements.”
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority leadership did not like the idea from the beginning. Ever since Future for Palestine was established in August 2013, they have been working toward undermining the group and its founder. . . .
[But] Fayyad’s chances of succeeding Abbas are [anyway] very slim, if not non-existent. Fayyad is an independent figure who does not belong to Fatah, Hamas, or any other political group. When he ran in the January 2006 parliamentary election at the head of the Third Way list, his group received two seats out of 132.
The reason most Palestinians did not vote for Fayyad is because he . . . did not participate in any armed attack on Jews, and never supported the armed struggle against Israel. . . . It took Salam Fayyad too long to realize that no matter how many good things he does for his people, in the end he will be judged on the basis of his contribution to the fight against Israel.
Read more on Gatestone: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6066/salam-fayyad-support