Fayyad announces second year of institutional capacity-building.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEHPalestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad(photo credit: AP)
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced his intention to continue moving forward with the second year of a two-year program of institutional capacity-building to lay the groundwork for a future Palestinian state at a cabinet meeting held in Ramallah on Monday.A document released by Fayyad's office forecasted that the PA would complete all the major reforms and initiatives necessary for the creation of an independent state within the coming year.RELATED:Mideast Monitor: The Fayyadism IllusionFayyad rejects bi-national state ideaA report released two weeks ago by the PA government listed a number of “achievements” toward building institutions and infrastructure in the West Bank over the past 16 months.According to the report, the Fayyad government built 34 new schools and expanded another 23. Eleven new clinics were opened, while another 30 were expanded, the report said.It also discussed the establishment of 44 housing projects in various parts of the West Bank, as well as the construction of 16 new roads.In addition, the PA government took credit for renovating another 40 roads and planting 370,000 trees.The report said the achievements had been made despite “Israeli occupation restrictions and obstacles.”“While we were building new houses, the Israeli authorities stepped up the process of house demolitions, including in occupied east Jerusalem,” the report claimed.The Fayyad government also accused Israel of erecting 500 “impediments” at a time when the PA was paving 157 kilometers of new roads in the West Bank.
