Palestinian Fatah prisoners in Israeli jails suggest that Abbas help find solution to disarrray
Marian Houk
November 21, 2009
In the Palestinian West Bank's de facto capital Ramallah today, Fatah activist Qaddura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Club (a support group), said that he had received a communication from the Fatah prisoners in Israeli jails in which they acknowledge the recent announcement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) not to run in the next elections.
Abbas himself made an official announcement, on 24 October (starting the clock on the required three-month time limit), decreeing that presidential and parliamentary elections would take place 24 January.
Then, on 5 November, he announced he would not run.
Last week, Abbas endorsed the announcement by the Palestinian Independent Election Commission that, with the current situation in Gaza being what it is, it would not be possible to hold elections on the specified date.
On Friday, Abbas confirmed that he would not run in the next elections.
Today, AP reported that "The [Palestinian Independent] Election Commission said Friday it would meet in December to set a new date".
Qaddura Fares said that in the message he received, the prisoners suggested that as long as Abbas is still in office, he should devote at least part of his time to continuing to look for a way out of the current difficulties facing the Palestinian leadership and people.
"We do not elect leaders to serve only in good times, or when things are going well", Qaddura Fares said. "They must also be leaders in bad times, and when thing are not going so well".
He said that it was good that the Palestinian President had finally recognized that years of negotiations with Israel had lead nowhere. However, Fares said, it was now important to help the people know what to do next.
Asked who had put up the two enormous posters of Abbas on Irsal street -- where Abu Mazen could not fail to see them at least twice a day when he is in Ramallah, on the way to and from his office in the Presidential Compound, the Muqata'a -- Fares at first said that he did not know. Then he indicated that he believed people around Abbas were responsible.
On Abbas' 74th birthday this past July, witnesses saw uniformed security officers putting up smaller posters of Abu Mazen all over town. They were torn down shortly later, on Abbas' orders.
What have we come to, Fares asked, when the Mukhabarat (intelligence service) that is supposed to be protecting the nation, is instead spending large sums of money on the posters and on busses bringing Palestinians from far corners of the West Bank into the Palestinian Presidential Headquarters in Ramallah, the Muqata, last week to ask Abbas to stay in his job, during the ceremony commemorating the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death.
Fares said he did not attend.
"We used to think we were democratic, a democracy", Abbas said. "Now, we're becoming just like all the Arab regimes" -- making a cult of the leader.
He added, "We have a saying in Arabic: a man who hates cannot be a leader. A leader must be tolerant".
Asked about media reports about a massive prisoner release as part of an exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Qaddura Fares said, "I don't know that it will happen by next Friday (27th February). But it will happen by the end of the year".
He said that the negotiations had made good progress, after the Israelis had tried everything else, without success -- including last winter's military operation against Gaza, attempts to capture Hamas leaders to use as hostages to leverage an exchange, attempts to improve their intelligence about where Shalit is being held and more.
Asked about reports that the U.S. had put big pressure on Israel to agree on the exchange deal, Qaddura Fares said he had not heard any such thing.
Abbas himself made an official announcement, on 24 October (starting the clock on the required three-month time limit), decreeing that presidential and parliamentary elections would take place 24 January.
Then, on 5 November, he announced he would not run.
Last week, Abbas endorsed the announcement by the Palestinian Independent Election Commission that, with the current situation in Gaza being what it is, it would not be possible to hold elections on the specified date.
On Friday, Abbas confirmed that he would not run in the next elections.
Today, AP reported that "The [Palestinian Independent] Election Commission said Friday it would meet in December to set a new date".
Qaddura Fares said that in the message he received, the prisoners suggested that as long as Abbas is still in office, he should devote at least part of his time to continuing to look for a way out of the current difficulties facing the Palestinian leadership and people.
"We do not elect leaders to serve only in good times, or when things are going well", Qaddura Fares said. "They must also be leaders in bad times, and when thing are not going so well".
He said that it was good that the Palestinian President had finally recognized that years of negotiations with Israel had lead nowhere. However, Fares said, it was now important to help the people know what to do next.
Asked who had put up the two enormous posters of Abbas on Irsal street -- where Abu Mazen could not fail to see them at least twice a day when he is in Ramallah, on the way to and from his office in the Presidential Compound, the Muqata'a -- Fares at first said that he did not know. Then he indicated that he believed people around Abbas were responsible.
On Abbas' 74th birthday this past July, witnesses saw uniformed security officers putting up smaller posters of Abu Mazen all over town. They were torn down shortly later, on Abbas' orders.
What have we come to, Fares asked, when the Mukhabarat (intelligence service) that is supposed to be protecting the nation, is instead spending large sums of money on the posters and on busses bringing Palestinians from far corners of the West Bank into the Palestinian Presidential Headquarters in Ramallah, the Muqata, last week to ask Abbas to stay in his job, during the ceremony commemorating the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death.
Fares said he did not attend.
"We used to think we were democratic, a democracy", Abbas said. "Now, we're becoming just like all the Arab regimes" -- making a cult of the leader.
He added, "We have a saying in Arabic: a man who hates cannot be a leader. A leader must be tolerant".
Asked about media reports about a massive prisoner release as part of an exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Qaddura Fares said, "I don't know that it will happen by next Friday (27th February). But it will happen by the end of the year".
He said that the negotiations had made good progress, after the Israelis had tried everything else, without success -- including last winter's military operation against Gaza, attempts to capture Hamas leaders to use as hostages to leverage an exchange, attempts to improve their intelligence about where Shalit is being held and more.
Asked about reports that the U.S. had put big pressure on Israel to agree on the exchange deal, Qaddura Fares said he had not heard any such thing.
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