Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr spoke with Newsweek International last November:
Q: The three people mentioned for the new cabinet, yourself included, studied in the United States. How will this affect the Palestinian view of America?
Abu Amr: I don’t think this is a political consideration. The more important consideration [is that] you have good formal education, the right education. It doesn’t matter if it’s the United States, the Arab world or anywhere else [in the] the world. We are talking about people with qualifications, particularly with skills and a track record. We are talking about people who are known for their integrity and leadership abilities. We are talking about people who can do the job. We are stuck in a situation where we need a certain type of person—not only for political consideration, not because that’s what the rest of the world wants—but because the objective conditions warrant that type of government. [We need] people who can reconstruct, work hard, plan, move around, travel, talk to the rest of the world.
Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad Addressed the Herzliya Conference in January:
"And, while I understand that in the design of these and other measures there may be a security rationale involved, the effect is not to create more security for Israel, but rather to create more conditions for future instability.
Why? Because at its core, this conflict is NOT a security conflict with political ramifications but instead a POLITICAL conflict with security ramifications. Unfortunately, for the past six years, and arguably longer, the focus has been solely on security, ignoring the inherent link between Israel’s lack of security and the Palestinians’ lack of freedom. This is not a humanitarian conflict needing a humanitarian response, nor is this a security conflict requiring a security response. What we are both suffering from is a political conflict requiring a political solution."