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Mahmoud Abbas

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Mahmoud Abbas
مَحْمُود عَبَّاس
President of the Palestinian National Authority
Disputed since January 2009
Assumed office
15 January 2005*
Prime MinisterAhmad Qurei
Nabil Shaath (Acting)
Ahmad Qurei
Ismail Haniyeh
Salam Fayyad
Preceded byRawhi Fattouh (Acting)
Succeeded byAziz Duwaik*
Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Assumed office
29 October 2004
Acting: 29 October 2004 – 11 November 2004
Preceded byYasser Arafat
Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority
In office
19 March 2003 – 6 September 2003
PresidentYasser Arafat
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byAhmad Qurei
Personal details
Born (1935-03-26) 26 March 1935 (age 89)
Safed, British Palestine
Political partyFatah
SpouseAmina Abbas
Alma materDamascus University
Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University
  • Abbas's term as President expired 15 January 2009, since then Aziz Duwaik has been recognised as President by the Haniyeh government in the Gaza Strip, while Abbas is recognised as President by the Fayyad government in the West Bank.[2]

Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 26 March 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen (Arabic: أَبُو مَازِن, Åbú Mázɩn), has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah (فتح Fataḥ) ticket.

Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally extended his term for another year and continues in office even after that second deadline expired. Regardless of his titles, Abbas is largely a titular ruler. The only significant geographic region controlled by Palestinians, the Gaza Strip, is controlled by Hamas, Fatah's main rival, and in 2009 Hamas announced that it would not recognise the extension or view Abbas as rightful president.[3][4][5] Abbas was chosen as the President of the State of Palestine by the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council on 23 November 2008,[6] a job he had held unofficially since 8 May 2005.[7]

Abbas served as the first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority from March to October 2003 when he resigned citing lack of support from Israel and the United States as well as "internal incitement" against his government.[8] Before being named prime minister, Abbas led the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department.

Biography

Mahmoud Abbas was born in Safed in Galilee.[9] He and his family fled to Syria during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[9] He graduated from the University of Damascus before going to Egypt where he studied law.

Abbas later entered graduate studies at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, where he earned a Candidate of Sciences degree[10][11] (the Soviet equivalent of a PhD). The theme of his doctoral dissertation was "The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism".

He is married to Amina Abbas and they have had three sons. The eldest, Mazen Abbas, ran a building company in Doha and died in Qatar of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 42.[12] The kunya of Abu Mazen means "father of Mazen". Their second son is Yasser Abbas, a Canadian businessman who was named after former PA leader Yasser Arafat.[13] The youngest son is Tareq, a business executive.

Abbas with President of the United States George W. Bush and Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon at the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba, Jordan, 4 June 2003

Political activism

In the mid-1950s, Abbas became heavily involved in underground Palestinian politics, joining a number of exiled Palestinians in Qatar, where he was Director of Personnel in the emirate's Civil Service. While there, in 1961, he was recruited to become a member of Fatah, founded by Yasser Arafat and 5 other Palestinians in Kuwait in the late 1950s.[14] At the time, Arafat was establishing the groundwork of Fatah by enlisting wealthy Palestinians in Qatar, Kuwait, and other Gulf States.

Abu Daoud, who planned the 1972 Munich massacre, the hostage-taking of members of the Israeli team at the Munich Olympic Games which ended with the murder of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches and a West German policeman, wrote that funds for the operation were provided by Abbas, though without knowing what the money would be used for.[15]

In 1985, he temporarily went into hiding in Yugoslavia upon avoiding international justice mechanisms in Rome, Italy.[16]

At the same time he has performed diplomatic duties, presenting a moderating face for PLO policies. Abbas was the first PLO official to visit Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War in January 1993 to mend fences with the Gulf countries for the PLO's support of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. At the 1993 peace accord with Israel, Abbas was the signatory for the PLO on 13 September 1993. He published a memoir, Through Secret Channels: The Road to Oslo (1995).[17]

In 1995, he and Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin wrote the Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement, which was meant to be the framework for a future Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Political career

Abbas with Sharon and Bush in Aqaba, Jordan, 4 June 2003

By early 2003, as Israel and the United States refused to negotiate with Yasser Arafat, Abbas began to emerge as a candidate for a more visible leadership role. As one of the few remaining founding members of Fatah, he had some degree of credibility within the Palestinian cause, and his candidacy was bolstered by the fact that other high-profile Palestinians were for various reasons not suitable (the most notable, Marwan Barghouti, was under arrest in an Israeli jail after being convicted of multiple murders). Abbas's reputation as a pragmatist garnered him favor with the West and certain elements of the Palestinian legislature, and pressure was soon brought on Arafat to appoint him prime minister. Arafat did so on 19 March 2003. Initially, Arafat attempted to undermine the post of prime minister, but was eventually forced to give Abbas some degree of power.

However, the rest of Abbas's term as prime minister was characterised by numerous conflicts between him and Arafat over the distribution of power. Abbas hinted he would resign if not given more control over the administration. In early September 2003, he confronted the Palestinian parliament over this issue. The United States and Israel accused Arafat of undermining Abbas and his government. In addition, Abbas came into conflict with Palestinian militant groups, notably the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement and Hamas because his pragmatic policies were opposed to their hard-line approach. However, he made it clear that he was forced to abandon, for the moment, the use of arms against Israeli civilians inside the green line due to its ineffectiveness.[citation needed]

Initially he pledged not to use force against the militants in the interest of avoiding a civil war, and attempted negotiation. This was partially successful, resulting in a pledge from the two groups to honor a unilateral Palestinian cease-fire. However, continuing violence and Israeli "target killings" of known leaders forced Abbas to pledge a crackdown in order to uphold the Palestinian Authority's side of the Road map for peace. This led to a power struggle with Arafat over control of the Palestinian security services; Arafat refused to release control to Abbas, thus preventing him from using them on the militants. Abbas resigned as prime minister in October 2003, citing lack of support from Israel and the United States as well as "internal incitement" against his government.[8]

2005 presidential election

After Yasser Arafat's death Mahmoud Abbas was seen, at least by Fatah, as his natural successor. On 25 November 2004, Abbas was endorsed by Fatah's Revolutionary Council as its preferred candidate for the presidential election, scheduled for 9 January 2005. On 14 December Abbas called for an end to violence in the Second Intifada and a return to peaceful resistance. Abbas told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that "the use of arms has been damaging and should end." However, he refused to disarm Palestinian militants and use force against groups designated as terrorist organizations.

With Israeli forces arresting and restricting the movement of other candidates, Hamas' boycott of the election, and his campaign being given 94% of the Palestinian electoral campaign coverage on TV, Abbas' election was virtually ensured,[18] and on 9 January Abbas was elected with 62% of the vote as President of the Palestinian National Authority.

In his speech, he addressed a crowd of supporters chanting "a million shahids", stating: "I present this victory to the soul of Yasser Arafat and present it to our people, to our martyrs and to 11,000 prisoners". He also called for Palestinian groups to end the use of arms against Israelis.[19]

Presidency

Despite Abbas' call for a peaceful solution, attacks by militant groups continued after his election, in a direct challenge to his authority. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine launched a raid in Gaza on 12 January that killed one and wounded three military personnel in Gaza. On 13 January Palestinians from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hamas, and the Popular Resistance Committees launched a suicide attack on the Karni crossing, killing six Israelis. As a result, Israel shut down the damaged terminal and broke off relations with Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, stating that Abbas must now show a gesture of peace by attempting to stop such attacks.

Abbas was formally sworn in as the Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority in a ceremony held on 15 January in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

On 9 August 2005 he announced that legislative elections, originally scheduled for 17 July, would take place in January 2006. On 15 January 2006 he declared that despite unrest in Gaza, he would not change the set date of the elections (25 January), unless Israel decided to prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from voting.[20] Hamas won a majority of votes in this vote.

Relations with Israel

Abbas with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

On 23 January 2006, Israeli radio reported that Abbas had secured a thirty-day ceasefire from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On 12 February lone Palestinians attacked Israel settlements and Abbas quickly fired some of his security officers for not stopping the attacks in a ceasefire.

On 9 April 2006, Abbas said that the killing of three Palestinians in southern Gaza by Israeli soldiers is a deliberate violation of the declared ceasefire deal. "This violation is made on purpose," Abbas said in a written statement sent to reporters in the West Bank capital of Ramallah. Abbas made the statement shortly after three Palestinian teenage boys were shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Israel claimed they thought the boys were attempting to smuggle weapons, while Palestinians claimed a group of boys were playing soccer and three of them went to retrieve the ball near the border fence.[21]

In response to the teens' deaths, Abbas said, "The Palestinian National Authority will not turn a blind eye to the shedding of the blood of our people and our children. We can never accept opening fire at our children who pose no danger at all." Abbas said the Palestinian children "are as precious to their parents as the Israeli children to their parents." Condemning the Israeli shooting as "unjustified", Abbas urged Israel to take serious actions to show commitment to the truce.

In May 2006, Abbas travelled to the White House and met with his American counterpart, George W. Bush. Bush, in return for Abbas' crackdown on terrorists, pledged 50 million USD in aid to the Palestinian Authority and reiterated the US pledge for a free Palestinian state. It was the first direct aid the United States has given to them, as previous donations have gone through non-governmental organizations. The next day Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada pledged 9.5 million CAD in new aid for judicial reform and housing projects, monitors for the coming Palestinian elections, border management and scholarships for Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon.[22]

On 25 July 2006 he announced that he would move his office to Gaza until the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops in order to coordinate the Palestinian side of the withdrawal, mediating between the different factions.[23]

Efraim Sneh, a former minister in the Israeli cabinet, has called Abbas the most "courageous partner we have had." He wrote that on 19 April 2006, following the elections in Israeli but before Ehud Olmert was sworn in, he met with Abbas and Abbas requested that negotiations resume immediately with the new Israeli government and that he be put in touch right away with a contact person to be appointed by the prime minister. Sneh reported that he immediately conveyed the substance of their meeting to the prime minister's office, but was told that the prime minister had no interest in the matter. Despite this, Sneh mentions that the Annapolis Conference convened a year and a half later, and that in September 2008, Prime Minister Olmert and Abbas came to understandings that would lead to an actual agreement.[24]

On 16 January 2006, Abbas said that he would not run for office again at the end of his current term.[25]

On 25 May, Abbas gave Hamas a ten-day deadline to accept the 1967 ceasefire lines.

On 2 June, Abbas again announced that if Hamas did not approve the prisoners' document—which calls for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict according to the 1967 borders—within two days, he would present the initiative as a referendum. This deadline was subsequently extended until 10 June 2006. Hamas spokesmen stated that a change in their stance would not occur, and that Abbas is not constitutionally permitted to call a referendum, especially so soon after the January elections.

Abbas warned Hamas on 8 October 2006 that he would call new legislative elections if it did not accept a coalition government. To recognize Israel was a condition he has presented for a coalition. But it was not clear if Abbas had the power to call new elections.[citation needed]

On 16 December 2006, Abbas called for new legislative elections, to bring an end to the parliamentary stalemate between Fatah and Hamas in forming a national coalition government.[26]

Abbas meets with then United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

On 17 March 2007, a unity government was formed incorporating members of both Hamas and Fatah, with Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister and independent politicians taking many key portfolios.

On 14 June 2007, Abbas dissolved the Hamas-led unity government of Haniyeh, declared a state of emergency, and appointed Salam Fayyad in his place. This followed action by Hamas armed forces to take control of Palestinian Authority positions controlled by Fatah militias. The appointment of Fayyad to replace Haniyeh has been challenged as illegal, because under the Palestinian Basic Law, the president may dismiss a sitting prime minister, but may not appoint a replacement without the approval of the Palestinian Legislative Council. According to the law, until a new prime minister is thus appointed, the outgoing prime minister heads a caretaker government. Fayyad's appointment was never placed before, or approved by the Legislative Council.[27] For this reason, Haniyeh the Hamas prime minister has continued to operate in Gaza, and is recognised by a large number of Palestinians as the legitimate acting prime minister. Anis al-Qasem, a constitutional lawyer who drafted the Basic Law, is among those who publicly declared Abbas' appointment of Fayyad to be illegal.[28]

On 18 June 2007, the European Union promised to resume direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, Abbas dissolved the National Security Council, a sticking point in the defunct unity government with Hamas.[29] That same day, the United States decided to end its fifteen-month embargo on the Palestinian Authority and resume aid, attempting to strengthen Abbas's West Bank government.[30] A day later, the Fatah Central Committee cut off all ties and dialogue with Hamas, pending the return of Gaza.[31]

On 2 March 2008, Abbas stated he was suspending peace talks with Israel, while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to press on with military operations against militants who have been launching home-made rockets into southern Israel.[32]

On 20 May 2008, Abbas stated he would resign from his office if the current round of peace talks had not yielded an agreement in principle "within six months". He also stated that the current negotiations were, in effect, deadlocked: "So far, we have not reached an agreement on any issue. Any report indicating otherwise is simply not true."[33]

On 9 January 2009, Abbas term as president, at least as he was originally elected, ended. Abbas extended his term for another year, stating the Basic Law gave him the right to do so, so he could align the next presidential and parliamentary elections. Pointing to the Palestinian constitution, Hamas disputes the validity of this move, and considers Abbas' term to have ended, in which case Abdel Aziz Duwaik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council has become acting president. Abbas remains as the president even though his one year extended term has expired.[5][34][35]

In 2011, Abbas stated that the Arab rejection of the United Nations Partition Plan in 1947 was a mistake he hoped to rectify.[36]

Relations with foreign leaders

In May 2009, he welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to the West Bank, who supported Abbas' goal of a Palestinian State.[37]

Also in May 2009, Abbas made a visit to Canada, where he met with foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In February 2010, Abbas visited Japan for the third time as Palestinian President. In this visit he met Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. He also visited Hiroshima, the first such visit by a Palestinian leader, and spoke about the suffering of Hiroshima, which he compared to the suffering of the Palestinians.[38]

In July 2012, Abbas accused former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of fabricating a conversation between them and denied that such a conversation took place. The specific quote he denied was, "I can’t tell four million Palestinians that only five thousand of them can go home,"[39][40] regarding the issue of Palestinian refugees. Abbas further said, "I’m not calling her a liar... I am saying that we never had that conversation."[41] In response, Rice denied that she fabricated it, as her chief of staff Georgia Godfrey wrote, "Dr. Rice stands by her account of the conversation and what she wrote in her book."[42]

Published works

The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement 1933 - 1945 is the title of Mahmoud Abbas' CandSc thesis, completed in 1982 at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, and defended at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1984 it was published as a book in Arabic titled "The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism" (Arabic: al-Wajh al-Akhar: al-'Alaqat as-Sirriya bayna an-Naziya wa's-Sihyuniya).

The dissertation and book discussed topics such as the Haavara Agreement, by which the Third Reich agreed with the Jewish Agency to facilitate Jewish emigration to Palestine.[10][43] Some content of his thesis has been considered as Holocaust denial by critics, especially the parts disputing the accepted number of deaths in the Holocaust as well as the accusations that Zionist agitation was the cause of the Holocaust[44] a charge that he denies.[45]

Quotes

  • "The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny but, instead, they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live in Eastern Europe, as if we were condemned to change places with them: they moved out of their ghettos and we occupied similar ones." (1976)[46]
  • "The little jihad is over, and now we have the bigger jihad - the bigger battle is achieving security and economic growth" (2005)[47]
  • "From here [the Gaza withdrawal], our people begin the march towards establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital"[48]
  • "I renew my commitment to continuing the road he [Arafat] began and for which he made a lot of sacrifices, until the Palestinian flag flies from the walls, minarets and churches of Jerusalem." (2005)[49]
  • "A Jewish state, what is that supposed to mean? You can call yourselves as you like, but I don't accept it and I say so publicly."(27 April 2009)[50][51]
  • "We have frankly said, and always will say: If there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, we won’t agree to the presence of one Israeli in it." (25 December 2010)[52]
  • "Zionist forces expelled the Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened. War and further expulsions ensued." (2011).[53]
  • "We go to the United Nations now to secure the right to live free in the remaining 22 percent of our historic homeland because we have been negotiating with the State of Israel for 20 years without coming any closer to realizing a state of our own.[53]"
  • "It [the Arab rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan to divide Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state] was our mistake. It was an Arab mistake as a whole."[54]
  • "Palestine now for me is '67 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is now and forever ... This is Palestine for me. I am (a) refugee, but I am living in Ramallah. I believe that (the) West Bank and Gaza is Palestine and the other parts (are) Israel."(November,2012)

References

  1. ^ http://wwrn.org/articles/23508/?&place=israel-palestine&section=miscellaneous
  2. ^ "Hamas Says Dweik "Real President" until Elections are Held". Al-Manar. 25 June 2006. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  3. ^ Abbas no longer president/UPI-19361231560412/ Hamas: Abbas no longer president, UPI (9 January 2009)
  4. ^ Abbas planning to extend his own term The Jerusalem Post (14 December 2008]
  5. ^ a b Hamas: Abbas no longer heads PA The Jerusalem Post (9 January 2009)
  6. ^ PLO body elects Abbas 'president of Palestine', AFP (23 November 2008)
  7. ^ PLO asks Mahmud Abbas to be acting president of "state of Palestine", Al-Jazeera TV, Doha (8 May 2005)
  8. ^ a b Palestinian prime minister Abbas resigns lol (CNN)
  9. ^ a b Sela, Avraham. "Abbas, Mahmud The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. p. 11
  10. ^ a b Аббас на глиняных ногах (Abbas on the feet of clay), Kommersant-Vlast No. 2(605), 17 January 2005) Template:Ru icon
  11. ^ David Seddon (2004). A political and economic dictionary of the Middle East. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-1-85743-212-1. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Eldest son of PLO no. 2 dies". Al Bawaba. 16 June 2002. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  13. ^ Abu Toameh, Khaled. "PA officials scandalized at disclosure by Abbas's son of vast personal fortune". The Jerusalem Post. 16 April 2009.
  14. ^ Gowers, Andrew (1991). Behind the Myth: Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Revolution. Interlink Pub Group Inc. p. 65. ISBN 0-940793-86-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Thirty years after he helped plan the terror strike, Abu Daoud remains in hiding -- and unrepentant". CNN. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  16. ^ US foiled - 14 October 2003
  17. ^ Book published by Garnet Publishing, United Kingdom.
  18. ^ Final Report on Monitoring the Presidential Palestinian Elections (Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies) 1 January 2005
  19. ^ Abbas achieves landslide poll win BBC. 10 January 2005
  20. ^ Abbas: Palestinian polls on schedule (Aljazeera) 15 January 2006
  21. ^ Israeli troops kill Palestinian teenagers (Aljazeera) 10 April 2005
  22. ^ Canada pledges aid to Abbas (Aljazeera) 28 May 2005
  23. ^ Abbas moves to Gaza for pullout (BBC) 25 July 2005
  24. ^ Haaretz, 2009 Nov 8, Ephraim Sneh, "The Partner Who Had No Partner: The Conduct of Abbas, the Most Courageous Partner We Have Had, Is in Large Measure a By-Product of Our Missed Opportunities," http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-partner-who-had-no-partner-1.4591
  25. ^ Abbas 'will not be leader again' (BBC) 16 January 2006
  26. ^ Palestinian president calls for early elections (CNN) 16 December 2006
  27. ^ Whose Coup Exactly?, The Electronic Intifada, 18 June 2007
  28. ^ Opinion of lawyer who drafted Palestinian law, Reuters, 8 July 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007
  29. ^ The Associated Press (18 June 2007). "Abbas dissolves Palestinian National Security Council, rallying international support". International Herald Tribune.
  30. ^ U.S. ends embargo on Palestinian Authority in move to bolster Fatah (International Herald Tribune) 19 June 2007
  31. ^ Fatah's leadership decides to cut off all contacts with Hamas (IHT/AP) 19 June 2007
  32. ^ Abbas suspends peace talks with Israel (CNN/AP) 2 March 2008
  33. ^ Analysis: The Palestinians' trump card - UPI.com
  34. ^ Hamas: Abbas no longer president, UPI (9 January 2009)
  35. ^ Abbas planning to extend his own term Jerusalem Post (14 December 2008)
  36. ^ Abbas should change his locks before next wave of Palestinian prisoners freed, Haaretz
  37. ^ Pope calls for Palestinian state
  38. ^ "President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas visits Hiroshima"
  39. ^ "In memoir, Rice says 'historic peace' nearly reached". Ma'an News Agency. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  40. ^ "Rice: I thought peace was within reach". Yedioth Ahronot. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  41. ^ Kayla, Adams (7 July 2012). "Abbas accuses Rice of fabricating crucial conversation about Olmert's peace offer". The Times of Israel. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  42. ^ Ahren, Raphael (11 July 2012). "Rebutting Abbas, Condoleezza Rice confirms her account of their 2008 refugee conversation". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  43. ^ Vadim Gorelik (Вадим Горелик) "Как товарищи Махмуд Аббас и Евгений Примаков Холокост отрицали" ("Comarades' Mahmoud Abbas' and Yevgeniy Primakov's denial
  44. ^ A Holocaust-Denier as Prime Minister of "Palestine"? by Dr. Rafael Medoff (The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies)
  45. ^ Akiva Eldar, "U.S. told us to ignore Israeli map reservations", Haaretz, 27 May 2003. [1] "A partnership was established between Hitler's Nazis and the leadership of the Zionist movement... [the Zionists] gave permission to every racist in the world, led by Hitler and the Nazis, to treat Jews as they wish, so long as it guarantees immigration to Palestine." *Source: The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, by Mahmoud Abbas, 15 February 1984
  46. ^ Ben Gad, Yitschak . Politics, lies, and videotape: 3,000 questions and answers on the Mideast crisis. SP Books, 1991. p.305
  47. ^ Bennet, James (21 August 2005). "Hamas Pushing for Lead Role in a New Gaza". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  48. ^ "Gaza boats mass to mark pullout". BBC News. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  49. ^ "Palestinians mark Arafat's death". BBC News. 11 November 2005. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  50. ^ 'Abbas refuses to accept Israel as a Jewish state, Arab News, 28 April 2009, [2]
  51. ^ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Abbas won’t recognize Israel as Jewish state, 27 April 2009
  52. ^ "Abbas vows: No room for Israelis in Palestinian state." Jerusalem Post. 25 December 2010. 25 October 2010.
  53. ^ a b Abbas, Mahmoud (16 May 2011). "The Long Overdue Palestinian State". The New York Times.
  54. ^ "Abbas: Arab world was wrong to reject 1947 Partition Plan." Haaretz. 28 October 2011. 28 October 2011.

'After Abbas' by Matthew Kalman, Tablet Magazine, 15 March 2011

Articles
Political offices
New office Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority
2003
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
2004–present
Incumbent
Preceded by President of the Palestinian National Authority
Disputed since 2009

2005–present

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