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Is a Palestinian Revolt Against Mahmoud Abbas Brewing?
(Telegraph-UK) Adrian Blomfield - Instead of going to the polls as they were promised, Palestinians are remaining at home this Friday, betrayed once again by bickering leaders whose quarrels have contributed to an increasingly dangerous sense of malaise across the West Bank and Gaza. For many ordinary Palestinians, the failure to hold legislative elections as promised represents the culmination of a deeply disappointing year in which politicians had sharply heightened their expectations only repeatedly to dash them. Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, polls showed, was the single most important issue for most Palestinians, outstripping even peace talks with Israel. But political reconciliation has stalled. Neither Hamas nor Fatah can agree how to share power in an interim government or to merge their respective security forces. An opinion poll last month indicated that support for Hamas and Fatah has fallen to historic lows, with 50% saying they would vote for neither party were an election actually to be held. Not only have Palestinians had the ballot box option ripped away from them, they also have a leader who has essentially been in power unconstitutionally for more than three years. Abbas' term officially expired in January 2009.