President Mahmoud Abbas announced in Ramallah on Thursday he would not seek a second term in office.
Confirming day-long rumors of his impending retirement, Abbas said the decision came amid Israel's intransigence on settlements and the international community's indifference to it.
"I have informed the PLO Executive Committee and Fatah's Central Committee that I do not intend to seek a second term in the upcoming [24 January 2010] election," he said in a televised address. "This decision is not up for debate or negotiation."
The president said he decided to step down when it became clear the US would not alter its position in favor of Israel and the settlement enterprise. His announcement came days after Palestinians were left stunned when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised as unprecedented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to limit construction in West Bank settlements to some 3,000 additional housing units.
"We pledged, us and the Israelis, with the participation and backing of the international community, to reach a two-state solution," Abbas added. "Yet month after month, year after year, there has been procrastination and an increase of Israeli settlements on our land, which compromise the credibility of peace talks."
"But the problem to be resolved is that Israel, especially its current government which, while dismissing all of this, calls for negotiations," Abbas said, and meanwhile "continues settlements throughout the West Bank, especially East Jerusalem, intended to unprecedentedly alter its Arab nature by destroying Palestinian houses while seizing and stifling the Christian and Muslim population."
More disappointing, he said, is that the US and PLO actually agree on most substantive issues, yet the Americans nevertheless continue to back Israel on the ground. "The stated position of the United States regarding settlements and the Judaisation and annexation of Jerusalem are well-known and appreciated by us. However, we've been surprised that they still favor Israel's position."
Saying the world looks on in silence when Israel violates its signed agreements, he noted, "I want to remind you that we asked, in tandem with the international community, that Hamas' government in 2006 adhere to previously signed agreements... A lot less is being asked of the current Israeli government; how is it the international community accepts that?"
Addresses leaders of Hamas, Israel
But the president also named Hamas' refusal to sign an inter-Palestinian reconciliation agreement as a contributing factor in his decision to leave office. "More dangerous than anything we've yet seen domestically has been the bloody coup that Hamas perpetrated in the Gaza Strip."
"Egypt undertook honest efforts recently to broker an agreement between us and Hamas, which Hamas has thwarted at every turn," Abbas said. "Not signing the Egyptian document, which they have seen and agreed to... has only benefited Israel, whose leaders can finally say, 'There is no Palestinian partner.'"
"The time has come for Hamas' leadership to reconsider its destructive policies, which are counter to the national project, and stop taking orders from regional interests," he added. "Think, for once, of the people's interests, whose problems won't be solved by taking a little money here, a little there, via smuggling tunnels that have enriched them but killed dozens of our young children from poor families."
Turning to address "the Israeli government and public, simply and clearly," Abbas said: "Peace is more important than any political gain to any political party. Peace is more important than [maintaining] a coalition government that pushes the region toward an abyss."
"It has been my vision for many years that peace is possible, and I have sincerely worked toward it," he concluded. "The sum of my experience has demonstrated that the two-state solution - Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace and security - is still possible despite the dangers that we face, the severity of which has recently increased."
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