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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/25/magazine/25PALESTINIAN.html
Salam Fayyad: The Radical Bean Counter
(New York Times) James Bennet - Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian minister of finance, is an economist trained in Texas who has never fired a gun or served time in prison. Under the current system, $20 million in cash is doled out monthly to the security chiefs, to be handed out to their 53,000 men from the dozen independent security agencies in the West Bank and Gaza. In theory, Fayyad now reports to Abbas; in practice, he checks in with both him and Arafat. Arafat remains pre-eminent. Most Palestinian politicians and diplomats in Jerusalem expect Abbas, the prime minister, to be a transitional figure between the era of Arafat and a new Palestinian leadership.