“No one envies Rami Hamdallah. The 54-year-old linguistics professor and president of An-Najah National University was appointed on Sundayas the new Palestinian prime minister, and in doing so assumed overnight the most ungrateful job in the West Bank. His chances of success are so low that some would say agreeing to take the post is akin to taking a suicide mission.

The headaches and troubles will start haunting Hamdallah immediately. He will quickly discover that he is more or less alone in his mission; Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas isn’t interested in the daily business of running the Palestinian Authority. While Hamdallah will be forced to handle a new crisis every morning, the Palestinian president will continue flying to all corners of the earth, walking on red carpets and shaking hands with world leaders.

Hamdallah is receiving a Palestinian Authority in the midst of a severe economic crisis. It will be impossibly hard for him to follow Salam Fayyad’s act. His first mission will be to safeguard the fragile budget of the Palestinian Authority and to ensure that thousands of clerks and security personnel receive their salaries.”

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