For Palestinians the Quest for Freedom Begins with Empowerment

Description

Associated Program:
John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum
Speakers:
Dr. Salam Fayyad
Co-Sponsors:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Middle East Initiative

Remarks by
Dr. Salam Fayyad
Prime Minister, Palestinian Authority (2007-2013)
Minister of Finance, Palestinian Authority (2002-2005, 2007)
International Monetary Fund Resident Representative, West Bank and Gaza Strip (1996-2001)
Senior Fellow, The Middle East Initiative, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, HKS
Melani Cammett (Moderator)
Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Dept. of Government, Harvard University
Faculty Affiliate, Middle East Initiative, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, HKS
Commissioner, Lancet Commission on Syria


Dr. Salam Fayyad addressed the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on the proposition of a two-state solution in the region, the need for unity among Palestinians, and the need for Palestinians to understand and conform to international norms. The Forum was moderated by Melani Cammett.

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Dr. Salam Fayyad is an economist and former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1987 to 2001, his tenure included serving as IMF resident representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from 1996 to 2001. He then served as manager of the Arab Bank in Palestine, and, in June 2002, he was named minister of finance of the Palestinian Authority. Until he resigned in December 2005, Dr. Fayyad served in that capacity on several cabinets, introducing in the process extensive financial reforms. In January 2006, he ran for elections on a slate of independents and was elected for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), where he served as chairman of the Finance Committee. In March 2007, Fayyad was appointed again as minister of finance in a national unity government, and in June 2007, he was appointed prime minister, a position he held until he stepped down in June 2013. In August 2013, Fayyad founded "Future for Palestine," a nonprofit development foundation. Currently, Dr. Fayyad is a Visiting Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a distinguished statesman with the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. Dr. Fayyad holds a BSc from the American University of Beirut, an MBA from St. Edward's University, and a PhD in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Melani Cammett is Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government at Harvard University and holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Cammett's books include Compassionate Communalism: Welfare and Sectarianism in Lebanon (Cornell University Press 2014), which won the American Political Science Association (APSA) Giovanni Sartori Book Award and the Honorable Mention for the APSA Gregory Luebbert Book Award; A Political Economy of the Middle East (co-authored with Ishac Diwan, Westview Press 2015); The Politics of Non-State Social Welfare in the Global South (co-edited with Lauren Morris MacLean, Cornell University Press, 2014), which received the Honorable Mention for the ARNOVA book award; and Globalization and Business Politics in North Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Her current research explores governance and social service provision, identity politics and post-conflict institutional arrangements, primarily in the Middle East. She is also working on a new project on the long-term historical roots of development trajectories in the region. Cammett has published numerous articles in academic and policy journals, consults for development policy organizations, and is the recipient of various fellowships and awards. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Syria.