This is not good news to be quite honest - in fact, this only furthers fuel on the fire.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that
he had no wish to seek re-election at a presidential poll he has called
for January and that he was not ready to debate the issue.
In a speech broadcast live from his headquarters in the West Bank
city of Ramallah, the 74-year-old PLO leader, who replaced the late
Yasser Arafat five years ago, said: “I have told our brethren in the
PLO … that I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election.”
Mahmoud Abbas says the stalemate in peace negotiations
with Israel prompted his decision not to run again. He charged the U.S.
with backtracking on its Mideast policy and refusing to press Israel to
freeze construction in its West Bank settlements. [...]
Officials from Abbas’ Fatah Party say they have no leading candidate
to replace him. Despite the announcement, activists say Abbas could be
persuaded to change his mind.
As the BBC notes,
Mr. Abbas did not say he is stepping down immediately, and, given the
lack of an agreement between his Fatah party and the Hamas leadership
in Gaza on the timing of elections, there may not be a vote in January
— so it remains possible that Mr. Abbas will continue in his post for
some time.
According to Haaretz, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded to
the announcement by calling on Mr. Abbas to “face the Palestinian
people and tell them frankly that the path of negotiations has failed.”