There were no bids by younger Palestinian leaders today to succeed President Mahmoud Abbas, who said yesterday he does not want to run for re-election in January.
Making clear the Fatah movement is, so far, unwilling to take the 74-year-old president at his word, none of the men seen as potential successors threw his hat into the ring after Mr Abbas's announcement.
Israel and the United States were also careful not to take his decision as irrevocable. They rely on Mr Abbas as their partner in the diplomatic drive for a Middle East peace treaty.
With the Palestinians so deeply divided between Fatah and the Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip, many analysts doubt there will be an election in January - in which case Mr Abbas may simply have to carry on representing his people in the peace process that Washington is trying to revive.
In an address to the nation, Mr Abbas said last night he had told Palestine Liberation Organisation leaders "I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election" scheduled for January 24th. He expressed disappointment with the Obama administration of for "favouring" Israel in arguments over re-launching peace talks and said his decision to stand down was not a negotiating tactic to win concessions.
His departure now would throw a wrench into the shuddering machinery of a "peace process" that has been stuck for a year and shows now sign of advancing.
The PLO executive committee heard Mr Abbas out but rejected his notice to leave, knowing it as yet has no credible successor in the wings.
Mohammad Shtayyeh, an aide to Mr Abbas and a top official of the Fatah movement, said the president felt let down by Washington and betrayed by some Arab allies. “Between now and the election date, we hope Abbas will reconsider," he said.
Israel said it was not its place to interfere but made clear it would prefer Mr Abbas to stay on for now. "It's definitely an Israeli interest, as it is an American, Western, Palestinian one, that there be a moderate and pragmatic Palestinian leadership," Israel's deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said, using a common description of Abbas's qualities.
"But definitely our hands are tied and we would never intervene in the internal affairs of others," Mr Ayalon said.
Mr Abbas made plain his frustration with the shift in President Obama's peace talks policy, from initially backing the Palestinian demand for a "freeze" on Israel's settlement building in the occupied West Bank to urging "restraint" while talks relaunch. "We were surprised by their favouring the Israeli position," he said.
Mr Abbas called the presidential and parliamentary elections last month in a move rejected by Hamas, who oppose US-led moves towards permanent Palestinian coexistence with Israel. Yesterday, he urged Hamas to review "its destructive practices against the national project".
A Hamas spokesman said the president had failed "after America and Israel used him as a tool".
Aides said privately that Mr Abbas was unlikely to step down because of the damage it would inflict on Fatah and the PLO.