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Abbas Needs an Heir Apparent

(Los Angeles Times) Jonathan Schanzer - PA President Mahmoud Abbas is 78, a heavy smoker and a cancer survivor. In 2010, he reportedly was admitted six times to a Jordanian hospital for health reasons. Should the unthinkable happen, according to Palestinian Basic Law, Article 37, "the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council shall temporarily assume the powers and duties of the Presidency." The current speaker is Aziz Dweik, who ran on the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform ticket. Should Dweik succeed Abbas, it would be the end of any possible peace process. Yet Abbas has refused to allow political challengers to emerge in the West Bank. Washington is also concerned about the rise of Hamas. That's why the U.S. has plied Abbas' government with financial assistance, military training, and intelligence cooperation to ensure that Hamas does not take over the West Bank as it did Gaza. But Washington has done so at the expense of the Palestinian political system, which has grown ossified and brittle. Abbas understands very well the significance of naming a successor. In 2003, Abbas became the first prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, upon the insistence of President George W. Bush. The timing was fortuitous, as Yasser Arafat died the following year. The writer is vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2013-03-01 00:00:00
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