Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinians’ aging and autocratic president, has been holding together the Palestinian Authority. But with no succession plan in place, predictions of chaos are proliferating.
P.A. leader’s position in his own party rattled as his Fatah officials challenge his political appointments, demand he takes steps to prove Fatah, not Hamas, “is the real Palestinian leadership.”
Fatah officials challenge P.A. leader’s political appointments, demanding steps be taken to prove that Fatah, not Hamas, “is the real Palestinian leadership.”
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting with the Palestinian leadership to discuss the United Arab Emirates deal with Israel to normalize relations, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on August 18, 2020. (Mohamad Torokman/Pool via AP)
In a sign of how much things have changed in just the past four months, Thursday’s announcement that Morocco had decided to restore bilateral ties with Israel failed to elicit even a peep from the Palestinian Authority.
Five days after Rabat and Jerusalem officially announced the opening of ties, the Palestinian Authority has yet to officially comment on the agreement. Most senior officials in the ruling Fatah movement, including those who have previously denounced normalization in the harshest terms, have yet to publicly utter a word.