Abbas expected to stay, despite retirement announcement
Hamas' refusal to hold elections in Gaza will likely delay elections from January indefinitely.
By Avi Issacharoff Tags: Palestinian election Israel newsThree days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated that he does not intend to run in the next Palestinian presidential election, more analysts are saying he is likely to keep his current post for a long time to come.
Palestinian analysts as well as senior Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials believe that so long as Fatah and Hamas do not reconcile, the presidential and parliamentary elections Abbas called for January 24, 2010 will be postponed indefinitely.
This is partly due to Hamas' refusal to hold elections in Gaza, and the problems that would arise from holding elections in the West Bank alone. Another issue in question is whether East Jerusalem would participate in the elections.
Additionally, Fatah is currently refusing to name a candidate to take Abbas' place. Senior Fatah officials say they expect Abbas to retract his statement and run for reelection, and that they hope his announcement will increase pressure on the U.S. administration to help Abbas do so.
The officials expect the U.S. administration to announce that East Jerusalem will be the capital of a future Palestinian state, and to stop trying to force Abbas to forgo his preconditions for returning to negotiations with Israel - that Israel freeze construction in the settlements.
If elections are held despite Abbas' refusal to run, this could lead to dramatic changes in the political constellation. Fatah's leadership could be left in an embarrassing position, because Abbas' legal replacement would be the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Aziz Duek - one of Hamas' top figures in the West Bank.
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I agree with what you say, but please stop these silly thank yous to Olivia, Nancy, and God knows who else! If you already paid them, then why do you feel you have to thank them in public? A professor like yourself should keep his private life to himself, don't you agree?
Abbas has proven to be Mr. FLIP FLOP! Withrew then resubmitted the Goldstone report. Announce his retirement then enlisted "his" institutions to mobilize people on the street to refuse his retirement announcement! What a charade! A looser like him is not fit to be the head of a local councel, let alone the leader of his people. The Palestinian people have many more qualified, honest and dedicated people than this character! The Palestinian people deserve a better leader because this one is leading his people to no where!
After all the PLO is "the sole Legitimate representative of the Palestinin people" and at the top of that group of Palestinians, we find Mahmoud Abbas as its leader. Maybe he will then start acting as Abu Mazen and forget about the dark days of becoming Mahmoud Abbas. "•In August 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced a unilateral plan to establish a de facto Palestinian state in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem following a two-year state-building process. Fayyad's plan is the first serious Palestinian outline of a state-building effort since the PLO was founded in 1964 and replaces the traditional PLO position of armed struggle to "liberate Palestine." The rumours, persistent as they are, that the US administration has signed up to this explains a lot, because elections in the occupied territories have proven to be fatal.
The nature of the leadership of the proposed Palestinian state can be deduced from the profile of its potential leaders, who have become role models of inter-Arab treachery, subversion and terrorism. Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) ? a graduate of KGB training and of Moscow University and the engineer of hate education ? was expelled from Egypt (1955), Syria (1966) and Jordan (1970) for subversion. He played a key role in the PLO violent attempts to topple the government in Beirut and PLO collaboration with Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. Can Israel make peace with Abbas ? A substantial annual net-emigration/flight, by moderate Palestinians, attests to the Palestinians' own expectations of the proposed Palestinian state. Consult: http://xrl.us/bfa7xz
Didn't I state here that it's a ploy by Abbas? Don't you realize that Abbas is a good actor? How many times has he threatened to resign? For how long can he continue to fool everyone all the time? (Thanks Olivia)
Go for it Palestinian! like we say in Italy pain that you ask for must not hurt is bad:) let Hamas be the new leader and let Natanyahu lick his wound, and after 2 year let U.N partition for a palestinian state! You got to love it!
- & whether such a basis can be found at all, is the key to the whole conundrum. the current israeli government is hardly a partner for peace for the pals, at least they're currently far from being so. but that may change w/a more moderate government taking over, hopefully soon. the question that remains on the pal. side is whether a 'reconciled' pal. camp ever will be able to be a credible partner in peace talks, & whether it can be, given the irreconcilable differences separating the two pal. parties. you need something readable & credible there, opening real hope for a future w/a peace that can hold, not just another vague, ambiguous 'prisoners declaration' & the like.
"Fatah's leadership could be left in an embarrassing position, because Abbas' legal replacement would be the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Aziz Duek - one of Hamas' top figures in the West Bank." It's not Abbas's fault, nor is it a strange twist of fate. It's the perfect foil for Netanyahu's "There's No Partner" show, which leaves no role for Abbas except that of spoiler, puppet and stooge anyway. No wonder he's thrown in the towel!