THE PALESTINIAN president Mahmoud Abbas may declare the peace process dead and dissolve the Palestinian Authority. Officials in Ramallah say, however, he will not take these steps until he is certain that nothing can be done to launch meaningful negotiations.
While these officials insist he is serious, Israeli commentators accuse him of bluffing.
Mr Abbas said last Thursday that he did not wish to run for a second term in the presidential election fixed for January 24th.
This announcement rendered him a “lame duck” president – no longer in position to make major concessions to Israel in negotiations. He also warned the international community that he had further plans in mind. “I hope they understand my position and take note that there are other steps I will take.”
He has adopted this stand because Israel refuses to halt settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem ahead of resuming negotiations or begin talks where they were suspended when Israel launched its war on Gaza.
Palestinian sources say the last straws for Mr Abbas were US praise for Israel’s plan to restrict settlement construction to 3,000 housing units in coming months and Egypt’s call for negotiations to restart without a settlement freeze.
Both amounted to reversals of policy that put him in an impossible situation.
Mr Abbas adopted negotiations in 1992 as the only means to achieve Palestinian statehood, godfathered the 1993 Oslo Accord, which launched the peace process and was elected president in 2005 on a pledge to secure a Palestinian state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, 22 per cent of historic Palestine. The Palestinian Authority was created as a temporary body to administer areas evacuated by Israel and to prepare for the establishment of a state and a permanent government.
Under the Oslo process, the deadline was 1999 or 2000. Since no state is on the horizon, many Palestinians argue that the authority should be dissolved. They say that Israel would then have to assume full responsibility for the welfare of Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
If he were to dismantle the authority, Mr Abbas would have the support of many Palestinians, who say their situation has deteriorated since 1993 and Israel has demonstrated its determination to hang on to the occupied territories by nearly trebling the number of settlers.
He could retain his leadership of the Fatah faction and his chairmanship of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and resume resistance to the occupation, or he could hand over to leaders who would. This would boost Fatah’s prospects of reconciliation with Hamas, which does not believe Israel is interested in a deal Palestinians can accept.
On Saturday Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mishaal called on Mr Abbas to “throw the compromise project in the face of the US and Israel” because it has “reached an impasse”.
“Courage dictates that we be frank with our people and decide together to suspend or freeze the political settlement process and pursue our real national interest.”
