Fayyāḍ, Sallām

Salam Fayyad (Arabic: سلام فياض, Salām Fayāḍ; born 1951 or 12 April 1952) is a Palestinian politician and economist who served as the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and the finance minister. He was Finance Minister from June 2002 to November 2005 and from March 2007 to May 2012. Fayyad was prime minister between June 2007 and June 2013. Fayyad resigned from the cabinet in November 2005 to run as founder and leader of the new Third Way party for the legislative elections of 2006. The party was not successful, and Fayyad returned as Finance Minister in the March 2007 Unity Government. Fayyad's first appointment as Prime Minister on 15 June 2007, which was justified by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on the basis of "national emergency", was not confirmed by the Palestinian Legislative Council. His successor, Rami Hamdallah, was named on 2 June 2013. Fayyad is a visiting senior scholar and the Daniella Lipper Coules '95 Distinguished Visitor in Foreign Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is widely known for introducing various reforms that improved the Palestinian economy.