On Thursday, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said,”I have told our brethren in the Palestine Liberation Organization…that I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election” on 24 January.
The head of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abed Rabbo, quickly announced that the committee had rejected Abbas’ announcement. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri jumped in to allege Abbas was bluffing, urging his Western friends to put pressure on Israel. Zuhri suggested an alternative course, “We advise him to…face the Palestinian people and tell them frankly that the path of negotiations has failed. Halt negotiations with the occupation and take practical steps toward reconciliation.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tension between Fatah and Hamas increases. After Hamas’s decision to postpone the reconciliation talks in Cairo, the Fatah Party’s Central Committee has urged Fatah and Palestianian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to issue a presidential decree on 25 October for presidential and parliamentary elections.
Fatah’s counter-plan is more of a rescue operation for the party itself, rather than for Abbas himself. The problem is now far more than Hamas’ declaration that they would not shake the hand of the “traitor”. Within the last two weeks, the furour over Abbas’ blocking of a UN vote on the Goldstone Report on Gaza has turned many in the West Bank against him. Faced with renewed corruption allegations against Fatah and a weakening position, Fatah elites are looking for a way to re-take the initiative.
The council must reach a decision to judge anyone who committed crimes against the Palestinian nation… I respect the majority opinion, and in the wake of everything that has happened, I have decided that the matter should be turned over again to the Human Rights Council!” Then, he defended his previous decision at the Council: “The decision to postpone [the vote] was a result of a consensus among the different parties at the Human Rights Council … and in order to secure the largest number of supporters for any resolution in the future.
Both sides continue to blame each other for political manipulation of the Gaza finding. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and adviser to Abbas, accused Hamas of exploiting the Goldstone Report to “damage national unity.” In return, Hamas warned the Palestinian Authority not to declare new elections unilaterally. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that polls in the West Bank alone would further divisions between Palestinians.
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