JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced Thursday that he will not seek reelection next year, citing a lack of U.S. support for his conditions for resuming peace talks with Israel.
Although he said the decision "is not up for debate," it was widely interpreted as a tactical gamble to win Israeli concessions and rally support among Palestinians. Abbas has groomed no successor and, because of uncertainty about whether elections will take place, could end up staying indefinitely in his post.
The 74-year-old leader, visibly tense, spoke on television hours after the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee heard his decision in a closed-door meeting and urged him to reconsider.
Word of his plans, leaked by aides earlier in the day, had prompted Israeli President Shimon Peres and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to telephone him with the same advice.
| Movie Finder |
The careful phrasing in Abbas' speech appeared to leave room for a change of heart.
"I have told our brethren in the PLO ... that I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election," Abbas said. "I hope they understand this position of mine."
Abbas has been frustrated by the United States' inability to secure a halt to Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements on West Bank land the Palestinians want for a future state.
U.S.-brokered peace talks broke off in December, and Abbas has refused to resume them until Israel agrees to a settlement freeze. Aides said he began speaking of stepping down after the Obama administration in recent weeks backed away from its insistence on a freeze and urged the two sides to settle their differences on the issue at the negotiating table.