Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumAbu Mazen threatens to dissolve Palestinian Authority
Abu Mazen threatens to dissolve Palestinian AuthorityAbbas, in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, said that if such the political stalemate persisted he would hand over "the keys" for the occupied West Bank to the Israeli government.
"If there is no progress even after the election I will take the phone and call (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu," Abbas said.
"I'll tell him... Sit in the chair here instead of me, take the keys, and you will be responsible for the Palestinian Authority."
"Once the new government in Israel is in place, Netanyahu will have to decide -- yes or no," Abbas said in the interview published on the paper's website late Thursday.
Former Israeli Foreign Minister and leader of Yisrael Beitanu Avigdor Lieberman issued a 'congratulations' for the remarks.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/abu-mazen-threatens-dissolve-palestinian-authority
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)and yet he remains, so is this an empty threat or an empty promise?
delrem
(9,688 posts)One need know no more about Abbas, this "leader" of the newly recognized state of Palestine, than the above statement. His so called "authority" is as bad or worse than that of the Vichy regime. The absolute limit of his actual power, of his ability to confront the situation in a way that benefits his people, is to threaten to hand Netanyahu the "keys" to his supposed power, if Netanyahu doesn't "negotiate for peace".
Right out of Alice in Wonderland.
Alamuti Lotus
(3,093 posts)He has no significant base of popular support (unlike Fayyad, who has absolutely no popular base of support), so the entire argument for him to stay in power (well past his expired term of office!) is that he is an effective collaborator and is best positioned to serve US/Saudi/Israeli interests. Unfortunately for him, he gets no respect for this service: constant abuse and veiled threats on his position and life from both ends.
By threatening to resign, he is forcing loud-mouths like Netanyahoo and Lieberman at their word: if you think you could do a better job, have at it. At the same time, he dangles the threat of Hamas being without any real competition in the West Bank either (following the total loss of collaborationist power in Gaza after the failed coup attempt by Dahlan and his US/Israeli mercenaries). Well, Abbas is too accustomed to the comfortable lifestyle that is reaped from the rewards of being a corrupt collaborator and patron of Gulf largess, so he has no intention of actually doing so.
Such futile gestures as this and the stunt at the UN are the only real cards he has, counterfeit and well-marked though they may be. Attempting to force the zionist regime to the table for "peace talks" (a cruel, Orwellian euphemism for "what part of Palestine do you want me to surrender today?" , while at the same time utterly decrying the process as a total failure? I'm not sure where they're going with this, not quite sure they do as well. The grand strategy seems to be some variation on the dual theme of "keep Hamas at bay" and "keep the Gulf money flowing", anything beyond this is probably nothing more than ad libbing writ large.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)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.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/12/201012435638356609.html
bemildred
(90,061 posts)I guess it's not much of a "threat", at least to Lieberman.