If the Palestinians like setting records for publication in the Guiness Book of World Records, they could add to their list — the world’s biggest knafeh (a sweet dessert made from shredded wheat stuffed with cheese, soaked in a sugary syrup, and garnished with chopped pistachios) in Nablus; the world’s longest or “largest” embroidered dress in Hebron, etc. — by entering the number of times that Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has resigned or threatened to resign from various responsibilities and posts.
[Here is one tally, probably incomplete: “historical fact: Abbas threatened to resign twice in 2008, once in 2007, 4 times in 2006, twice in 2005, … . For that matter, the man had to be cajoled into running for president in the 1st place” – from a comment posted this morning by “Howard” on Helena Cobban’s new work blog, called “Fair Policy, Fair Discussion”, for the Council for the National Interest here.]
He also resigned, in October 2003, about six months after being appointed, by the late Yasser Arafat (and at donor insistence,), as the first Palestinian Authority Prime Minister. At the time, as CNN reported, he complained about ” ‘Israel’s unwillingness to implement its road map commitments and to undertake any constructive measures” … [And] He also said the United States and the international community ‘did not exert sufficient influence on Israel to implement its commitments in the road map to push the peace process forward or to end its military escalation … lack of support for the government’s policies; harsh and dangerous domestic incitement against the government and the obstruction of its functions, and unjustified accusations that the government and the prime minister had the motive of either having control over everything or nothing’.” The CNN report is posted here.
Yet, in his letter of resignation to Yasser Arafat on 6 September 2003, Abu Mazen seemed to blame above all Yasser Arafat himself, and wrote that “it seems … there was a deliberate and preconceived determination to undermine this government using all manner of legitimate and illegitimate means, including violence, false accusations and slurs … [But] you preferred to keep it [this government] going and use it as a decoy to draw away hatred … insulting it became an end in itself … Since you are apparently convinced that I am the Karzai of Palestine [!], that I have betrayed the trust placed in me, and that I was undeserving of the responsibility I was entrusted with, then I gladly return the responsibility to you to deal with as you see fit”… from the JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES, Vol. XXXIII – No. 2, Issue 130, Winter 2004.
In what appeared to be a rambling speech to the Palestine Legislative Council the same day, Abu Mazen blamed most of all Farouk Kaddoumi … yes, the same Farouk Kaddoumi that told journalists in Amman this past summer, just before the Fatah General Conference in Bethlehem, that Abbas (and Mohammad Dahlan) was aware in advance of plans to murder Yasser Arafat, and did not object. After Abbas consolidated his hold on the Fatah movement, he subsequently ejected.
[Abbas’ resignation speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council was published in the same issue of the JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES, pages 165-172 – but cannot be obtained online without payment. It is, however, pubished online for free by the Jewish Virtual Library, here, and it is worth re-reading. An excerpt is posted on our new page, here.]
Six years on, in the karmic rapid cycling of Palestinian politics, not much has changed — despite a lot of turmoil and an almost unbearable amount of human suffering …
In the latest situation (after the global denunciation — yes, even from governments friendly to the Palestinians, as well as from Palestinians inside and outside the occupied territory), he finally (after weeks and months of rumors and speculation) issued a Presidential decree on 24 October ordered Palestinian elections (presidential and parliamentary together) in the required three-month time limit, on 24 January.
This photo (taken on 24 October as Mahmoud Abbas ordered the 24 January elections), was published today on Yahoo news:
This, it was said, was to somehow shake up and focus the attention of Hamas, who have been dithering about signing yet another this-is-it Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement (Hamas + Fatah first, factions later) which even the American administration is now openly trying to edit.
Just over a week later (last Thursday), Abu Mazen announced in a speech at the Muqata’a Palestinian presidential headquarters in Ramallah that he would not run in those elections.
Nice tie! – this photo (taken on 5 November as Mahmoud Abbas says he will not run in the 24 January elections), was also published today on Yahoo news:
Then followed a week of desultory and Fatah-organized “popular demonstrations”, and declarations from the now-Ramallah-based Palestinian bodies (Fatah Central Committee, Palestine Liberation Organization or PLO Central Council, etc.) saying that Abu Mazen is the only popular candidate, and he must run.
Then, on Thursday (yesterday), The Palestinian Central Elections Commitee announced that it was recommending postponement of the elections (in part because it is doubtful they could reasonably be held in Gaza, and in part because Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said they could not be held in East Jerusalem, either) — and Abu Mazen agreed. This means that he will stay on, of course, as President, “caretaker” or otherwise, in addition to his roles as head of the largest Palestinian political party, Fatah, and as head of the overall Palestinian representation, the PLO.
This is not easy to understand … is there a plan here? Is it Machiavellian, or is it complete disorganization?
The NYTimes said today that “The announcement removed some of the immediate uncertainty surrounding the future of the current president, Mahmoud Abbas, who said recently that he would not run for a second term … Speaking on Wednesday at a rally marking the anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Yasir Arafat, Mr. Abbas said he did not want to talk about his future. Instead he focused on the challenges in the struggle to establish an independent Palestinian state, and he called for reconciliation with Hamas. Several Palestinian officials, including Ghassan Khatib, a longtime analyst and the director of the Palestinian government media center, have said in recent days that Mr. Abbas is unlikely to resign ahead of elections because it would effectively hand power to Hamas, at least temporarily. According to the Palestinian Basic Law, if a president resigns or is incapacitated, the speaker of the parliament assumes the presidency for a maximum of 60 days while new elections are arranged. The position of speaker is currently held by a senior Hamas figure, Aziz Dweik. Mr. Dweik, who lives in the West Bank, was released from an Israeli prison in June after serving most of a three-year sentence for belonging to an illegal organization. Mr. Khatib said the delay in the election would allow time for a possible reconciliation between the Fatah movement and Hamas”. This NYTimes article can be read in full here.