Fayyad: Jews can be equal citizens of Palestine (Good, but ...)

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday said that Jews would enjoy freedom and full civil rights in a future Palestinian state, according to a report in the Aspen Daily News. (Link)

This is a good statement to promoting trust and acceptance, and further turning the wheels of peace. Fayyad should be applauded, but many Israelis and Jews just don't believe him.

There are many reasons we don't believe him: PA treatment of minorities(Christians, gays, women etc.), lack of evidence of Palestinian support for this statement, we don't know how much support Fayyad has among Palestinians, fighting among rival Palestinian factions, and the election of Hamas.

Rather than go into the details, I have several questions.

1. How much support among Palestinians is there for Fayyad's statement? And for Fayyad as a politician?

2. To Palestinians: What kind of state do you want your future state to be? I know it seems a bit early to discuss this but this is actually important. Zionist have written much about what kind of state or homeland they wish to accomplish many decades before the establishment of Israel. If what you say sounds good, others would support it. Nationalism can unite a people for a goal larger than the the tasks a state has such as running a bureaucracy, such as creating technology (think JFK), improving civil and political rights, or helping people around the world.

3. What problems do you see in the Palestinian Authority which outsiders can help improve?

4. How can we engage elements that treat minorities poorly such as Hamas and other elements in the PA to promote Fayyad's statement?