Elections commission: No plans to delay vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

The Central Elections Commission denied news reports on Sunday regarding its intentions to delay the election date for Palestinian Legislative Council and the presidential elections set for January 2010. The commission confirmed in a statement that it remains committed to the date appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas for 24 January 2010, adding that it lacks the authority to change the presidential decree that was issued by the President, proclaiming the forthcoming elections.

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Palestinian sources: Abbas plans to quit before elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in private meetings in recent days that he intends to resign from his post in the near future, Palestinian sources told Haaretz. The remarks come after Thursday's announcement that he would not seek reelection as Palestinian president.

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Abbas: I don't know what Israel wants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Israel had done nothing to promote peace. "It appears they do not want peace, and they don't want to stop settlement, and they don't want the vision of two-states, so I don't know what they want," he said, addressing a small crowd outside the presidential palace in Bethlehem. "We must remain believers in peace," he added, speaking in a car park which still bears the track marks of Israel tanks stationed there during the Intifada, or uprising, which swept the Palestinian territories in 2000.

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Abbas claims Israel doesn't want peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh, Tovah Lazaroff - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel does not want peace, does not want to stop settlement construction and does not want the two-state solution, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Addressing supporters during a rare visit to Bethlehem and Hebron, Abbas said that the Palestinians would not make any additional concessions and would continue to demand their rights. "I don't know what the Israelis want," he said. "They must start thinking about what needs to be done if they really want peace."

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Arab echoes of grassroots protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Craig Nelson - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

If Gamal Abdel Nasser, the late president of Egypt and legendary champion of Arab nationalism, had risen from his grave during the heady days of November 1989, he would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The stirring on the streets of Prague, Berlin and Bucharest not only spelled the end to the “enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend” politics that Nasser had mastered in playing off the rival superpowers against each other, it was a sharp break with the sweeping pan-Arab nationalism that Nasser espoused and the top-down political style he practised.

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Abbas move seen as gamble with US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

If nothing else, Mahmoud Abbas spurred a flurry of reaction and speculation about the future of the struggle for Palestinian statehood after he stated his desire in a speech on Thursday not to run again for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah supporters rallied across the West Bank on Friday to urge him to reconsider, while Palestinian leaders from both within and outside his own party closed ranks around him. Further afield, Arab, European and Turkish officials have expressed their hope that Mr Abbas might yet be persuaded otherwise.

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Thousands in West Bank Urge Abbas Not to Quit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

Thousands of Palestinians turned out in the West Bank Sunday to urge Mahmoud Abbas to run again for the presidency following his announcement that he did not want a second term in the job. Waving flags, Abbas supporters greeted the president as he conducted a rare tour of towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, part of the territories where the Palestinians aim to establish a state. "Mahmoud Abbas, don't step down! You are the foundation," chanted the crowd. The Fatah movement, which Abbas heads, had called for participation in the show of support.

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Stepping Down in Overtime
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he would not run for a new term in elections early next year, he justified his decision by focusing on his frustration with the stance by the US and the Arabs on the Israeli settlement issue. Irrespective of the ultimate consequences of this declaration and the chance that Abbas will go back on it, his justification reveals the depth of the predicament that the peace process is now in, along with the plan to establish a Palestinian state. It also reveals the depth of the predicament of Palestinian political action.

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Abbas feels enough is enough
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

MAHMOUD ABBAS is fed up. The day before yesterday he withdrew his candidacy for the coming presidential election in the Palestinian Authority. I understand him. He feels betrayed. And the traitor is Barack Obama. A year ago, when Obama was elected US president, he aroused high hopes in the Muslim world, among the Palestinian people as well as in the Israeli peace camp.

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Clear signal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

With Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president and head of the PLO, announcing that he will not seek another term in power, the clearest possible signal has been sent that the possibility for any peace process between Palestinians and Israelis is moribund. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has now reached a critical impasse, and only something dramatic can break the stalemate. Without anything suitably dramatic, the current artificial state of affairs can limp on for a few years until Palestinians yet again reach a breaking point and there is another serious round of violence.

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