05/11/2009 Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday he will not seek re-election in January amid frustration with the US position on Israeli settlements, a senior PLO official said. "President Abbas told the PLO executive committee that he will not run in the next presidential election, and the executive committee unanimously told him that they reject the decision," said Yasser Abed Rabbo.
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s top body "announced they will still support him as the nominee in the elections," which the Palestinian leader has called for January 24 alongside a parliamentary poll.
"President Abbas has said more than once that he does not want to be a candidate because of his feelings of great frustration about the American position on the peace process," senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said.
He said Abbas's frustration also applied to the international community, "Arab and non-Arab," because of lack of progress on the Palestinians' demand for a halt to settlement building on the occupied West Bank.
"But the Fatah movement with all of its cadres and institutions stands behind president Abbas running for another term," Shaath told reporters.
Abbas's frustration was said to have peaked when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised an Israeli proposal for some settlement limits as "unprecedented" after months of Washington demanding a full settlement freeze.
Clinton later clarified that US President Barack Obama's administration still considers settlements "illegitimate" but also called on the two sides to resume negotiations even without the freeze demanded by the Palestinians.
Shaath said Abbas felt he had done everything required of him under the internationally-adopted 2003 roadmap agreement, which called on the Palestinians to improve security, but had received nothing in return. "The Americans have abandoned their obligations," Shaath said.
Last month, Abbas called for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on January 24, a date set by the Palestinian constitution, but Hamas has rejected the elections as "unconstitutional" because of Abbas's status.
Palestinian legislative elections were last held in 2006, when Hamas won a majority.
Fatah members insist the decree was a constitutional requirement and not intended to pressure Hamas, though they say they still want reconciliation.
"The door of reconciliation with our brothers in Hamas is open and we won't close it until the last moment," said leading Fatah member Jibril Rajoub.
Other say elections can only realistically be held after a unity agreement.
"Any real action that is taken by the Palestinians has to be done under an agreement," said Fatah member Qadoura Faris. "Without that, nothing can be done.
Abbas is said to be "pushing back" (but in the photo he seemed like holding on!)
"A day after Hillary Clinton returned from a swing through the Middle East where she pushed the Palestinians to go into peace talks with Israel short of a full Israeli settlement freeze, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to not run (again?) in Palestinian elections he has called to be held in January, reports say. UPDATE: He won't run. Decision is final.
Abbas is expected to give a major speech at 1:30pm EST. His expected announcement that he will not run in Palestinian elections "set off a flurry of calls from regional leaders, with the presidents of Egypt and Israel, the king of Jordan and Israel's defense minister all urging Abbas to change his mind, aides said," the AP reports. .... "What Abbas is trying to do is leverage his weakness to the extreme," said one Washington Middle East hand who asked for anonymity. "'Give me something or you will have no leadership here.' Conceivably what he is asking for is a setlement freeze. .... His sense is that 'Hillary tried to push me around. And I will show her.' Then fine, you [try to] go on without me."
"This is vintage Abbas ..."Like elections themselves (unlikely to be held) the threat of resignation is a ploy as well -- reflecting his personal frustration, but also designed to grab attention and get others not to take him for granted. On balance the threat changes nothing, although an actual resignation would."......
Abbas' expected threat comes a day after Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reportedly floated a one-state-solution "warning shot to the Israelis," the former U.S. official said. "'We don't want independence. We want you to impose Israeli law on all of us, with passports, etc.' This is something being talked about in closed intellectual circles in Palestine."..."
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