Perpetually Resigning Abbas Threatens To Go One Step Further

When Abbas threatened in November 2009 to resign, I noted that actually, Abbas has a longstanding habit of threatening to resign:

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.

Now Abbas is at it again, threatening not only to resign but also to dissolve the Palestinian Authority:

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has said that if no peace deal can be agreed with Israel and the international community does not approve a Palestinian state, he may dissolve his governing body.

Abbas said in a television interview on Friday that if Israel continued to build settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, leading to the beakdown of peace talks, the Palestinian Authority (PA), that provides limited autonomy for the territory, would be disbanded.

"I cannot accept to remain the president of an authority that doesn't exist," he said.

Pressed on whether he was referring to the possibility of dissolving the PA, he said: "I am telling them so. I say to them welcome ... you are occupiers.

"You are here, stay here, I cannot accept the situation will remain as is."

When Abbas threatened this past September to resign if the peace talks failed, I pointed out that Abbas's term as president already ended 2 years ago anyway. In fact, both The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and International Foundation for Electoral Systems agree Abbas's term ended in January 2009.

If anything, Abbas's threats just serve to highlight how absurd the situation actually is.

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