Abbas Threatens To Quit Post He No Longer Holds

Nothing unusual about this:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is once again threatening to resign – this time if the direct peace talks fail, a senior PA official said over the weekend.

Despite Abbas’s latest threats, the PLO and Fatah have yet to start searching for a replacement, the official said.

Of course they haven't started looking for a replacement for Abbas. After all, Abbas has threatened to resign before--many, many, many times before:

March 18, 2008
Exclusive: Abbas threatens to quit peace talks, revive Fatah terror
(OK, Abbas is not threatening to resign--but we're just getting warmed up...)

Jan 17, 2008
Abbas threatens to quit if 'escalation' continues

June 12, 2007
Fatah movement threatens to quit Hamas-led unity gov't

February 26, 2006
Abbas threatens to quit over Hamas
(Feb 28, 2006 Abbas: I did not threaten to quit)

30 January 2006
Abbas to resign if Hamas fails to work with foreign powers

January 25, 2006
Palestinians Vote in First Legislative Elections in a Decade
Abbas is "a touchy man of dark moods, who often threatens to quit, as he quit as prime minister after four months in 2003 when Mr. Arafat did not allow him enough power."

Jan 17, 2006
PA head Abbas threatens to quit

December 16, 2005
Palestinian Chief Threatens to Quit Over Rival Fatah Slate

March 30, 2005
Palestinian Abbas threatens to quit unless Fatah groups cooperate.

Wed 09 Sep 2003
Abbas threatens to quit unless he gets more authority

Thursday, September 4, 2003
Abbas threatens to quit over leadership

Aug. 21, 2003
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas threatens to resign unless Yasser Arafat approves a crackdown on Hamas

July 9, 2003
U.S. Supports Abbas After Palestinian Leader Threatens to Quit

April 08, 2003
Moderate Palestinian PM threatens to quit as Arafat hinders change.

But this time is different--Abbas is no longer president of the Palestinian Authority.

Back in January 2009, Abbas's 4 year term ended. At the time, he argued that he should retain control for an extra year based on a technicality--the presidential and parliamentary elections are supposed to take place at the same time. Naturally, Hamas did not agree.

When I blogged about this in May 2009, I quoted sources that indicated Hamas might actually be right:

The Palestinian Centre For Human Rights has issued a paper siding with Hamas.

The Fatwa & Legislation Office has issued a paper siding with Abbas.

According to this Q&A about the election [PDF] from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the law is with  the PCHR and Hamas

So now we are well past the date for the elections even according to Abbas's revised schedule. His term as president is over--really, really over.


You would have thought that Abbas wouldn't want to draw attention to the fact that his term ended nearly 2 years ago, but in the Arab world--elections are a game.


And the rest of the world keeps playing along.



Hat tip: Arlene Kushner


Technorati Tag: Abbas and West Bank Elections.