Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Quitting Act

Bye Bye Mahmoud: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not run again in elections scheduled for 2010. (Thaer Ganaim/PPO via Getty Images)

Late tonight from Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas preempted the regular television schedule with a speech and announced that he would not seek the presidency again in elections scheduled for January. The announcement is a rebuke to the unconvincing fits and starts of the Obama administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Abbas is especially embittered by the administration's about-face on demanding that Israel halt its illegal settlement building in the West Bank.

But Abbas, 74, is also looking for cover for his own perceived weaknesses and misjudgments. He hasn't been a strong Palestinian leader. He has not responded effectively to the challenge posed by Hamas in Gaza, proving incapable of finding ways either to reunify Palestinians under one banner or to counter Hamas' perceived legitimacy among a sizable chunk of the Palestinian electorate. Palestinians perceive Abbas' Fatah as still more corrupt and less socially responsive than Hamas.

Abbas' popularity among Palestinians, never beefy, has been plummeting in the past few weeks. The steep decline was triggered by his decision to give in to American and Israeli pressure and withdraw his endorsement of the so-called Goldstone report, the United Nations' Human Rights Council-sponsored investigation into atrocities and war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas during the war over Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009. Abbas subsequently reversed course. But his credibility hasn't. He squandered what had been a brief reversal of fortune between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

Opting not to run for reelection was therefore not quite a surprise, especially in light of what may happen next: elections scheduled for January may not take place as long as Hamas chooses to boycott them, or as long as Fatah chooses to use Hamas' position as an excuse not to hold the elections. That would enable Abbas to stay in his post indefinitely, much as his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, never a friend of democratic processes, did. Abbas may have stumbled on a way to look like he is protesting without actually doing so. Whether Palestinians buy the act is another story.

See Also:

• What Is Fatah?
• Fatah Rising Over Hamas
• What is Hamas?
• What Is the Goldstone Report?
• How Obama and Clinton Caved On Israel's Settlements