Mahmoud Abbas Enters The Twilight Zone

Submitted for your approval...

Meet Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority--a position he has threatened to resign from for years.

And yet Mr. Abbas has found himself strangely drawn to power, claiming that after his 4 year term expired this past January--that he can still continue in office, based on a technicality.

Mahmoud Abbas: torn between quitting his job--or staying indefinitely.
Unsure which path to take.

But today, The Twilight Zone will make the decision for him...

Mahmoud Abbas's term as Palestinian president will be extended by the supreme body of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) when it meets in December, senior PLO officials said on Tuesday.

Abbas, the Western-backed leader committed to negotiating peace with Israel, will stay in office, they said.

Though Abbas has said he does not want to run again for the presidency, several members of the PLO Central Council interviewed by Reuters said the body would effectively extend his tenure to avoid a vacuum when it expires on January 25.

Following his November 5 announcement that he did not want to stand again for the presidency in elections he had called for January 24, the PLO urged Abbas to stay on.

However the debate over his candidacy was rendered largely irrelevant last week when the independent election commission advised him to postpone the vote. Cancellation of the election is now seen as a mere formality.

The commission told Abbas it could not organise presidential and legislative elections, mainly because they had been banned in advance by the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, which disputes Abbas's legitimacy.

So his threat not to stand will not arise.

"The Central Council has only one solution and it is to entrust the president, as head of the PLO, with continuing as president of the Palestinian Authority until it is able to hold presidential and legislative elections," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior official in the Fatah movement, also led by Abbas.

Meet Mahmoud Abbas, who can can now hold the position of President of the Palestinian Authority indefinitely, as a possible position of President For Life has now turned into President For Eternity...

In The Twilight Zone.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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