Palestinian sources: Abbas plans to quit before elections
Pundits expect PA president to remain in his post given the ongoing tension between Hamas and Fatah.
By Avi Issacharoff Tags: Egypt Mahmoud Abbas Israel news FatahPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in private meetings in recent days that he intends to resign from his post in the near future, Palestinian sources told Haaretz. The remarks come after Thursday's announcement that he would not seek reelection as Palestinian president.
Abbas' closed-door statements on a possible resignation were made to an Egyptian diplomatic delegation visiting the Palestinian Authority's Muqata compound in Ramallah. The delegation was led by Yasser Othman, Egypt's new ambassador to the PA, who was visiting Abbas to try to convince him to reconsider his decision to step down from the presidency.
The visitors were surprised to see that Abbas was not amenable to reconsidering the decision, and appeared intent on quitting his post.
Abbas' decision not to seek reelection will not necessarily hold, as pundits expect the Palestinian leader to remain in his post for the foreseeable future, given the ongoing tension between Hamas and Fatah, which could push the election back indefinitely.
Fatah, Abbas' movement, has also refrained from naming a successor to take on the president's role. Still, Abbas' resignation could reshuffle the cards in Ramallah, leaving the Palestinian political arena in disarray. It remains unclear whether Abbas also intends to quit his other positions, as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization working committee and of the Fatah movement itself.
Meanwhile, other Palestinian sources said recently that even if Abbas tried to resign, he would likely be kept in the position as a "temporary president" for an extended period, as Hamas refuses to hold elections in Gaza, and Fatah refuses to hold elections in the West Bank without its rival movement on board.
Yesterday Abbas took a rare tour around the West Bank, visiting Bethlehem and Hebron, and a pro-Fatah rally of 10,000 in the town of Halhul near Hebron.
According to Palestinian law, if a president resigns or is unable to continue in his position, the speaker of the parliament takes his place for 60 days. The current speaker is Aziz Dweik, one of the leading Hamas figures in the West Bank.
Some Fatah sources, however, have been examining the possibility that Abbas will resign, without elections being pushed back. The sources raised the name of Marwan Barghouti, a top Fatah figure held in Israeli prisons since 2002, as a possible candidate to replace Abbas in such a scenario. Should Barghouti decide to run for the presidency, pressure on Israel to release him would rise significantly.
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On your arab brothers who keep on changing the terms of their demands Surely you remember how they pledged to remove the clause from the PLO Charter that called for the destruction of Israel, something they have yet to do
another victim os israeli wrong policy!
even if there were not one settlement over the 1949 armistice line israel will not cede this area . this is the security weak point on the map where israel is vulnerable to all kinds of attack if any part was ceded!!
This is Palestinian history in a nutshell. Give us everything we demand, instantly, for free or we'll take our ball and go home and sulk.
Hamas and Fatah have once again demonstrated that the power struggle that has been raging between the two parties for the past three years is not over who is going to bring democracy and prosperity to Arab population living in the West Bank and Gaza. Nor is it over who is going to build schools, universities and hospitals. They are not fighting over what is good for these population. They are fighting over money and power. The two sides despise one another so tremendously that some Arabs have been arguing that Hamas and Fatah hate each other more than they hate Israel. More at : http://xrl.us/bfsjta
The PA's paymasters, the EU and USA, have gritted their teeth over Israel's actions so far and concentrated on the nation-building process in Palestine, as specified in the Road Map. They are pleased with the improvements in the Pal security forces, policing, the economy, rule of law. There is a lot of work going on in reforming the judiciary, integrating the various legal codes, building courts and prisons, etc. Their expectation has been that this will enable sensible peace talks and a less inflexible Israeli mindset. How wrong they were! Abbas's resignation says everyone is wasting their time. Israel's sole goal is plainly to settle and steal as much of the WB as they can conceivably get away with and preferably all of it. Negotiations with an intransigent occupier are a total waste of time. So expect the EU and USA to ungrit their teeth now and turn their ire on the wreckers,Israel. It's already started but there is a lot more to come.
How about a reputable poll or two, your word doesn't count "Support for Israel in the United States is in a free-fall."
Would you be willing to bet on Abbas following though? Five bucks says short of his death he will still be in power a year from now. What do you say?
""The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip said Sunday that they would never negotiate with the "Zionist enemy","" This is the real cause of the impasse in which Fatah and the PA finds itself in and the reason for Abbas resignation. No amount of inuendo, and demonisation of Israel can change this no matter how hard you try. You are preaching to the "converted" Mark Lincoln.Those converted to the cult of Israel bashing
.. wasn't that whjat they claimed the whole time? Always be careful what you wish for,.. you might get it!
...there comes a time when one just has to admit that the other side will never abide by the law or any agreements so it is time for a new paradigm. Declaring s state would be immediately recognized by the world and in President Obama's current mood likely also by the US. Israel seems to think there is unlimited patience. Maybe the wingnuts should check out the comments on even right-wing GOP Web sites in the 'States. Support for Israel in the United States is in a free-fall. And very few in Israel seem to care at all.
Thats the heart of the problem.
All the PA does is make Israels life easy..Israel is responsible for the Palestinians according to international law since it is an occupying power..the only reason they allowed the PA back during Oslo was to sidestep that obligation. One state for all people..
When has Israel ever negotiated honestly with him? When has Israel ever failed to humiliate and disparage Abbas? We are talking about two governments, the latest even more abusive than the first. The PA has lived up to what was demanded of it. The harder it tried, the more successful it was, the worse it was humiliated and despised. Clearly Israel has no more use for the PA than it would a peaceful neighboring Palestine. So why should anyone care what becomes of Abbas? Is the old fool now appreciated as the best deal Israel would ever get? Or has he in his demise, ripped the mask off the face of Israel?
Abbas, please hurry up! We can't stand your procrastination. Please do what you promise to do - resign immediately so we can go on with our lives.