Palestinian president says he will not seek re-election

WEST BANK:PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas will not seek a second term when elections are held, he has said.

Elections in the West Bank and Gaza, however, remain a distant prospect due to the split between his Fatah faction and Hamas. “Elections cannot take place if the West Bank and Gaza don’t first unite,” Mr Abbas conceded.

Hamas has announced that Gaza would not participate in elections until unity is achieved.

To heal the rift, abhorred by a majority of Palestinians, Mr Abbas said he is prepared to travel to Hamas-controlled Gaza to effect reconciliation. He said he would travel to Gaza “to end rivalry [but] not to start new negotiations with Hamas”.

Although Gaza’s de facto premier Ismail Haniyeh has welcomed his readiness to visit the strip, it would seem Mr Abbas wants Hamas to follow Fatah’s example by simply signing a unity accord drawn up by the ousted Egyptian regime. Mr Haniyeh, who extended an invitation to Mr Abbas on Tuesday, has called for talks to resolve differences.

The Abbas proposal followed unity rallies staged by thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. He is also likely to be responding to pressure exerted by the March 15th Movement formed by young Palestinians following the uprising mounted by Egyptian youth that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Abbas, elected in January 2005 to forge a peace deal with Israel, is in an extremely weak position. His strategy of renouncing armed struggle in favour of negotiations with Israel is ineffective as Israel has refused to cede the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to the Palestinians for their state.

His four-year term expired in January 2009 but was extended for a year pending elections which were not held. Furthermore, the national emergency government under Salam Fayyad – appointed by Mr Abbas in 2007 – had legitimacy for only 60 days under the Palestinian constitution. This government, reappointed in 2009, has not been confirmed by the legislature which has not been convened. Many Palestinians question the legality of the Fayyad government and the legitimacy of Mr Abbas’s presidency.

Mr Fayyad, an independent technocrat who has curbed mis-management and corruption in the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, has tried to position himself as successor to Mr Abbas by promoting the populist policy of boycotting goods and services from West Bank settlements. But Mr Fayyad is unacceptable to Fatah which has no agreed candidate for the presidency.

Fatah and Hamas established competing regimes in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007 after Hamas routed local Fatah forces when the movement’s local strongman Muhammad Dahlan mounted a failed coup against Hamas which had won a majority of seats in the 2006 election. Since 2007 the sides have consolidated their positions. While Hamas rules unopposed, Gaza is besieged and blockaded by Israel. Fatah administers West Bank enclaves that remain under Israeli control.