The unpopular and politically weak 90-year-old Palestinian leader struggles for a role in Gaza

CAIRO AP Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas turns on Saturday still holding authoritarian power in tiny pockets of the West Bank but marginalized and weakened by Israel deeply unpopular among Palestinians and struggling for a say in a postwar Gaza Strip The world s second-oldest serving president after Cameroon s -year-old Paul Biya Abbas has been in office for years and for nearly the entire time has failed to hold elections His weakness has left Palestinians leaderless critics say at a time when they face an existential dilemma and hopes for establishing a Palestinian state the centerpiece of Abbas agenda appear dimmer than ever Palestinians say Israel s campaign against Hamas that has decimated Gaza amounts to genocide a view echoed by multiple international legal experts organizations and other countries Israel denies the accusation and has tightened its lock on the West Bank where Jewish settlements are expanding and attacks by settlers on Palestinians are increasing Right-wing allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are pressing for outright annexation a step that would doom any remaining possibility for statehood For now the U S has bent to Israel s refusal to allow Abbas Palestinian Authority to govern postwar Gaza With no effective leader critics fear Palestinians in the territory will be consigned to live under an international body dominated by Israel s allies with little voice and no real path to statehood Abbas has put his head in the sand and has taken no initiative commented Khalil Shikaki head of the People s Company for Polls and Survey Research a Palestinian pollster His legitimacy was depleted long ago Shikaki narrated The Associated Press He has become a liability to his own party and for the Palestinians as a whole Within the pockets of the West Bank that it administers the PA is notorious for corruption Abbas rarely leaves his headquarters in the city of Ramallah except to excursion abroad He limits decision-making to his tight inner circle including Hussein al-Sheikh a longtime confidant whom he named as his designated successor in April An October poll by Shikaki s organization identified that of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza want Abbas to resign Only a third want the PA to have full or shared governance of the Gaza Strip The survey of people had a margin of error of percentage points Arafat s successor It s a long way from years ago when Abbas was elected president after the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat amid hopes he could negotiate an independent state The first blow came in when Hamas drove the PA out of the Gaza Strip in a violent takeover Hamas rule entrenched a split between Gaza and the West Bank the Israeli-occupied territories that the Palestinians seek for a state Abbas was left in charge of pockets around the West Bank s main population centers But his power is crippled because Israel has a chokehold on the market system controlling the West Bank s support most of of its land and its access to the outside world Netanyahu who took power in rejects the creation of a Palestinian state His strategy from Day has been to weaken the PA explained Ehud Olmert who preceded Netanyahu as prime minister and perhaps came the closest to reaching a peace deal with Abbas shortly before being forced from office Netanyahu s aim Olmert disclosed is to prevent any genuine chance to come along with particular compromise that could have been implemented into a historical agreement Cooperation with Israel The campaign of weakening the PA comes even though Abbas has abided by a major role demanded by Israel and the international society protection cooperation with Israel The PA trades intelligence with Israel on militants and often cracks down on armed groups To plenty of Palestinians that makes the PA a subcontractor of the occupation suppressing opponents while Israel swallows up an increasing amount of the West Bank It has chosen to put itself hand-in-hand with the Israeli occupation even as Israel acts to make it more fragile and weaker reported Abdaljawad Omar an assistant professor of philosophy and cultural studies at the West Bank s Bir Zeit University Netanyahu frequently accuses Abbas of not genuinely seeking peace and of inciting violence against Israel Netanyahu s cabinet has repeatedly withheld transfers of tax money that Israel collects for the PA because of stipends paid to families of those imprisoned or killed by Israel Despite reforms to the stipend system Israel is withholding various billion according to the PA That has worsened an ongoing economic dilemma in the West Bank Israel s campaign against the PA is pushing it to the edge of collapse stated Ghassan Khatib who was Palestinian planning minister under Abbas in - Khatib defended what Abbas supporters call his plan of practical realism By working to prevent violence Abbas has stayed credible on the international stage he stated trying to build international backing and winning official recognition of a Palestinian state by a growing list of countries But that hasn t brought any triumphant pressure from the U S or Europe against Israel to stop settlement expansion or reach a peace deal Preventing alternatives At a time when Israel s far right is pushing for the eradication of the Palestinians Omar stated Abbas pragmatic realism is a form of national suicide Fearing rivals Abbas has prevented wide-scale participation in leadership alternative leadership or popular movements even for considerable non-violent resistance or civil disobedience against Israel he stated Politics has been removed as a way for young people to engage to stand against occupation stated Omar who was when Abbas came to office Shikaki stated Abbas inaction only fuels aid for Hamas which portrayed its Oct attack on southern Israel as aimed at ending Israel s occupation Even if certain Palestinians believe the attack was disastrous they see Hamas as trying to do something on behalf of the Palestinian people he stated They see Abbas is doing nothing Change attempts U S President Donald Trump s plan calls for an international council to run the Gaza Strip after Hamas is removed with a Palestinian administration carrying out day-to-day services It holds out the possibility of the PA taking control if it carries out unspecified reforms to the council s satisfaction Abbas has made various gestures toward change He has promised legislative and presidential elections within a year after the war in Gaza ends This week meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron he released a Palestinian-French commission to draw up a new constitution In a high-profile move against corruption the movement minister was removed in October and put under examination on charges of bribery according to local media Palestinians are skeptical In the PCPSR poll of respondents stated they doubted Abbas will hold elections It revealed that if a vote were held the clear winner would be Marwan Barghouti a senior figure from Abbas Fatah faction imprisoned by Israel since Abbas would come a distant third behind any Hamas candidate Ines Abdel Razak co-director of Palestine Institute for Populace Diplomacy advocacy group revealed the U S and Israel don t have an interest in real democratization That would mean all Palestinians would authentically have a voice she commented Any effective ruler would confront the Israeli occupation Khatib explained Israel will likely be able to keep the PA out of Gaza since uniting it with the West Bank would only boost Palestinian demands for statehood Israel is the party that is calling the shots on the ground he commented Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this record Source