WEST BANK: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he does not wish to run for re-election

Record ID: 560953

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he does not wish to run for re-election
  • Date: 6th November 2009
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 5, 2009) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS WALKING TO LECTERN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, SAYING: "The stated position of the United States in relation to settlements and the Judaisation and annexation of Jerusalem are well-known and appreciated by us. However, we were surprised by their favouring of the Israeli position." REPORTERS AT SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, SAYING: "Reaching a two-state solution, Palestine and Israel living side by side in security and peace, is still possible, despite the dangers that we face and whose severity has increased recently. I mean that the two state solution is facing these days much danger. We don't know where this will lead." CAMERAMAN AT EVENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, SAYING: "I have told our brethren in the PLO's executive committee and Fatah central committee that I have no intent of running in the upcoming presidential election, and this decision is not up for debate or bargaining at all. I hope they understand this position of mine, taking note that there are other steps that I will take." PALESTINIAN FLAG AUDIENCE APPLAUDING AS ABBAS FINISHES SPEECH FATAH SUPPORTERS OF MAHMOUD ABBAS MARCHING AND CHANTING SLOGANS WIDE OF FATAH SUPPORTERS MARCHING NABIL ABU RUDEINAH, SPOKESMAN FOR PRESIDENT ABBAS TALKING WITH REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NABIL ABU RUDEINAH, SPOKESMAN FOR PRESIDENT ABBAS, SAYING: "This is the normal result of the continuous Israeli policy of occupying the West Bank and the continuous inaction policy of all the world community, including the American administration. Statements are not enough in this period. The situation is very sensitive, and very critical, and very dangerous. And everybody should recognise that solving the Palestinian issue is the priority for solving any issue in the Middle East. The whole region now is facing instability, is going to face troubles, and we hope the American administration would understand that this Israeli policy is going to ruin everything in the region."
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6RNVSG5W3JVPI7VRCR8CMP3OS
  • Story Text: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he did not wish to run forre-election in January, voicing disappointment at Washington for "favouring" Israel in arguments over re-launching peace talks.
    The 74-year-old PLO leader, in a televised speech, said his decision was not the negotiating tactic some had expected of him. But his phrasing did appear to leave some room for a change of heart. Officials to whom he announced his move earlier in the day said they insisted he must stand as they had no one else.
    Abbas, who replaced the late Yasser Arafat five years ago, reserved some of his strongest condemnation for his domestic Islamist opponents Hamas, who beat his Fatah party in a 2006 parliamentary election and then seized control of the Gaza Strip the following year, hamstringing Palestinian national unity.
    But he also slammed Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected Abbas's demand that all building in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank must cease before peace negotiations can resume after an 11-month halt.
    In a mark of the frustration aides say he has felt since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed with Netanyahu on a visit to Israel last week that settlement expansion should not hold up a return to negotiations, Abbas praised President Barack Obama's administration for promoting peace. But he added: "We were surprised by their favouring the Israeli position."
    "I have told our brethren in the PLO ... that I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election," a visibly tense Abbas told a news conference at his Ramallah headquarters.
    Earlier he had told the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee, not for the first time in recent years, that he did not want to stand again for office. The committee, however, had rejected his offer to step down, officials said.
    "This decision is not one of bargaining, or a manoeuvre, at all," Abbas said. "I hope they understand this position of mine, taking note that there are other steps that I will take."
    A man who has made his political career on negotiating with Israel, Abbas said he still believed it was possible to reach a solution in which a Palestinian state would be established alongside Israel.
    Abbas faces a dilemma: Washington insists he drop conditions for renewed peace talks with Israel, yet to abandon his demand for a freeze on West Bank settlements may further bolster Hamas.
    "I think the aim is to get a strong American position that would define the term of reference for the peace process and that is to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, without excluding Jerusalem," said George Giacaman, a political scientist at Birzeit University in the West Bank.
    "It's a tool of pressure aimed at the Americans and does not mean he will resign in the current circumstances, maybe later."
    Aides have said privately in recent days that, despite talk of Abbas making a grand gesture not to seek a second term, he was unlikely to step down, since his Fatah party and the wider PLO, both of which Abbas heads, have no obvious replacement.
    Abbas's main opposition, Hamas, has rejected his call for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on Jan. 24.
    Many doubt there will be any vote and should elections happen at all, they would lack legitimacy, many analysts say.
    Abbas called the elections last month after failing to conclude an Egyptian-brokered deal with Hamas -- which rejects any peace moves with Israel -- to end the political schism.
    In Gaza, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas's decision to run or not was "internal Fatah business".
    Israeli government officials declined comment.
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