Fayyad and the Resistance Economy

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Dr. Salam Fayyad said he would work to develop a resistance economy. This is a fine statement, and I am among those cheering him on toward reaching this goal, ready to work with him to achieve such an economy, and I believe many others besides me would want to take part. With this statement, Dr. Fayyad surpasses the “development for steadfastness” program that began in the early 1980s, and there are likely large numbers of people watching, waiting to see what the prime minister will actually do.

But it is important to clarify what we mean by a resistance economy, and the following points may sum up the subject:

1. A resistance economy means, first and foremost, disentangling the economy of the territory occupied in ‘67 from the Western states and “Israel,” because this camp has worked diligently, in cooperation with Palestinians and Arabs, to build a begging, service-based, consumerist, debt-ridden economy meant to corrupt people and distract them from their national causes. It is easy to disentangle from the Western states, but rejecting the Israeli economy requires a great deal of effort and sacrifice, because “Israel” is an occupying state sitting on our chest, and most raw materials arrive through it. Even so, we must try, and keep trying, whatever sacrifices it costs us.

2. Self-reliance, wherever possible, is the banner of a resistance economy, so that we leave no room for anyone to dictate their will to us. This means:

a. Focusing on agricultural development, adopting agricultural policies that increase the area of cultivated land and the number of people working in agriculture, and providing every kind of support to farmers and to breeders of livestock, poultry, and bees, and to owners of workshops built on agricultural production.

b. Reducing the level of consumption, adopting a policy of austerity. This requires a return to Arab consumption habits, which in turn improve people’s physical, mental, and psychological health.

c. Developing new social values, such as the values of collective work and mutual cooperation, in place of the reckless, boastful, ostentatious values now prevailing. This touches the values surrounding wedding expenses and spending on happy occasions.

d. Substantially reducing government expenditures, including having the president of the Authority, the prime minister, and the ministers give up their cars, their security details, and other expenses that burden people, and restructuring the various administrative affairs so as to achieve higher administrative efficiency at lower cost.

e. Redirecting members of the security services into productive jobs and work, since they consume a large part of the budget with little benefit. We need only a police force to maintain internal security — Israel’s security is not our responsibility. Some can be redirected to the education and health sectors, others to agricultural and craft positions.

f. Halting the import of goods and commodities we do not need, and those for which we can produce an alternative. We do not need dates, avocados, bananas, corn flakes, or ketchup from “Israel,” and we do not need bedroom sets from China or Turkey. We have skilled hands in shoemaking, garment-making, furnishing, and metalwork, and so on. This will create many job opportunities for people, and raise official tax revenue as production rises.

g. Alongside austerity, salaries should be brought into line with the cost of living, which is expected to fall. Austerity also presupposes reducing fees on various transactions, reducing university tuition fees, and lowering prices, since the local market will be full of local products and will become less affected by the price level in “Israel.”

h. Using the Jordanian dinar and the Egyptian pound instead of Israeli currency.

i. Insisting on importing raw materials from Jordan and Egypt instead of “Israel.”

3. We should not expect to become self-sufficient overnight, and we should expect to remain in need of external financial support, and so we should search for sources of financial support from parties that place no conditions on us.

4. Developing a resistance economy requires halting normalization with “Israel,” and every form of cooperation, including security cooperation.

5. Developing a resistance economy requires mobilizing the energies of the masses, so that every individual takes his appropriate place in achieving the goal. Developing such an economy requires everyone’s participation, the unity of the people, and their confidence in the seriousness of the effort — meaning the matter requires a focused cultural and media program.

6. The most important point of all is that the official or leader must convince people through his own example. What is required is that the president of the Authority practice austerity before everyone else, that he walk as people walk, and cross checkpoints as they do. But if the official insists on VIP treatment, then his efforts amount to nothing.

If the prime minister adopts these steps, the Palestinian cause will enter a new phase, one consistent with the era of Arab revolutions and with the idea of liberation.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “فياض والاقتصاد المقاوم” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.