Abbas And Meshal Did Not Sign Their Own Unity Agreement (Update: Implications)

So much for 'unity'.

In a post yesterday about snags in the signing of the Hamas-Fatah unity agreement, I quoted the New York Times, which noted that 2 signatures were missing from the agreement:

Officials from all the Palestinian factions had earlier signed the deal that Meshaal and Abbas were expected to endorse at the ceremony. It was not immediately clear why they we're [sic] not going to put their own signatures to it.

I had forgotten about that detail, until I read Elder of Tziyon ask Did Abbas and Meshal sign the unity agreement?


He translates a paragraph from Al-Quds al Arabi:

Notably, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not sign the agreement, as expected, and neither did Mr. Khaled Meshaal of the Islamic Resistance Movement 'Hamas'...

George Hale of Ma'an was asked about this on Twitter, and he responded:

According to this report, no. It says assistants signed on behalf of both officials.

Even if you say that the assistants were fully authorized to sign on behalf of their respective bosses, the question remains: why did Abbas and Meshal not sign the unity agreement themselves?

The question needs to be asked--and it needs to be answered.

It's a heck of a time for Abbas and Meshal to realize their terms ran out long ago and their signatures are meaningless.

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar was blogging early and has an update on implications of Abbas and Meshal not signing the unity agreement.

Technorati Tag: Fatah and Abbas and Hamas.