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Mahmoud Abbas

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Political People

   محمود عباس
   Mahmoud Abbas
   Mahmoud Abbas
     __________________________________________________________________

   3rd President of the Palestinian National Authority
   Incumbent
   Assumed office
   January 15, 2005
   Preceded by Rauhi Fattouh (Interim)
   Succeeded by Incumbent
     __________________________________________________________________

   Born March 26, 1935 (1935-03-26)
   British Mandate of Palestine Safed, British Mandate of Palestine
   Nationality Palestinian
   Political party Fatah
   Spouse Amina

   Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: محمود عباس) (born March 26, 1935), commonly
   known by the kunya or nom de guerre Abu Mazen (ابو مازن), was elected
   President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on January 9,
   2005, and took office on January 15, 2005.

   Abbas is a leading politician in Fatah. He served as the first Prime
   Minister of the Palestinian Authority from March to October 2003 when
   he resigned citing lack of support from Israel and the United States as
   well as "internal incitement" against his government. Before being
   named Prime Minister, Abbas led the PLO's Negotiations Affairs
   Department. He has served as Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee
   since November 11, 2004, after Yasser Arafat's death. With Hamas now in
   control of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas is frequently portrayed as
   the face of Palestinian moderation.

Biography

Childhood and education

   Mahmoud Ridha Abbas was born in 1935 in Safed, then part of the British
   Mandate of Palestine. His family became refugees during the war of 1948
   and settled in Syria. In Syria he attended school and graduated from
   the University of Damascus before going to Egypt where he studied law.
   Subsequently, Abbas entered graduate studies at the Peoples' Friendship
   University of Russia in Moscow, where he earned a Ph.D. in history. The
   thesis of Abbas's 1982 doctoral dissertation was The Secret Connection
   between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement In 1984, a
   book based on Abbas's doctoral dissertation was published in Arabic by
   Dar Ibn Rushd publishers in Amman, Jordan. His doctoral thesis later
   became a book, The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism
   and Zionism, which, following his appointment as Palestinian Prime
   Minister in 2003, was heavily criticized as an example of Holocaust
   denial. In his book, Abbas wrote:

     "It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to
     inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will
     be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in
     order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with
     Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and
     reached stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at
     only a few hundred thousand."

   In his May 2003 interview with Haaretz, Abbas stated:

     "I wrote in detail about the Holocaust and said I did not want to
     discuss numbers. I quoted an argument between historians in which
     various numbers of casualties were mentioned. One wrote there were
     12 million victims and another wrote there were 800,000. I have no
     desire to argue with the figures. The Holocaust was a terrible,
     unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime against
     humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind. The Holocaust was a
     terrible thing and nobody can claim I denied it."

Involvement with politics

   Abbas, President of the United States George W. Bush, and Israeli Prime
   Minister at the time Ariel Sharon at the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba,
   Jordan on June 4, 2003.
   Abbas, President of the United States George W. Bush, and Israeli Prime
   Minister at the time Ariel Sharon at the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba,
   Jordan on June 4, 2003.

   In the mid-1950s Abbas became heavily involved in underground
   Palestinian politics, joining a number of exiled Palestinians in Qatar,
   where he was Director of Personnel in the emirate's Civil Service.
   While there, he recruited a number of people who would become key
   figures in the Palestine Liberation Organization, and was one of the
   founding members of Fatah in 1957. Yasser Arafat was among other key
   members.

   Throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Abbas traveled with Arafat and the
   rest of the PLO leadership in exile to Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia (see
   article on Yasser Arafat for details). Though he garnered little
   attention, particularly in the Western media, Abbas is said to have had
   a powerful behind-the-scenes influence on the PLO. He is regarded as an
   intellectual pragmatist by some commentators. He is credited with
   initiating secretive contacts with left-wing and pacifist Jewish groups
   during the 1970s and 80s, and is considered by many to be a major
   architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords (evidenced in part by the fact
   that he traveled with Arafat to the White House to sign the accords).

   At the same time he has performed diplomatic duties, presenting a
   moderating face for PLO policies. Abbas was the first PLO official to
   visit Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War in January 1993 to mend fences
   with the Gulf countries for the PLO's opposition to the US attack on
   Iraq during the crisis. At the 1993 peace accord with Israel, Abbas was
   the signatory for the PLO on September 13, 1993. He published a memoir,
   Through Secret Channels: The Road to Oslo (1995).

1972 Olympic Massacre

   The Munich massacre occurred at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich,
   Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by
   the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September, assumed to be
   an operational cover for Yasser Arafat's Fatah group. The attack led
   directly to the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes, five of the eight
   kidnappers, and one German police officer.

   Mohammed Daoud Oudeh, one of those believed to have planned or executed
   the Munich attack, alleged that Mahmoud Abbas was responsible for
   funding the operation in his autobiography, Memoirs of a Palestinian
   Terrorist ( ISBN 1-55970-429-2). This allegation has not been confirmed
   by any other former members or affiliates of Black September, nor has
   it been verified by any historical studies.

Term as Prime Minister

   Bush, center, discusses the Middle East peace process with Sharon and
   Abbas in Aqaba, Jordan, June 4, 2003.
   Bush, centre, discusses the Middle East peace process with Sharon and
   Abbas in Aqaba, Jordan, June 4, 2003.

   By early 2003, as both Israel and the United States had indicated their
   refusal to negotiate with Yasser Arafat, Abbas began to emerge as a
   candidate for a more visible leadership role. As one of the few
   remaining founding members of Fatah, he had some degree of credibility
   within the Palestinian cause, and his candidacy was bolstered by the
   fact that other high-profile Palestinians were for various reasons not
   suitable (the most notable, Marwan Bargouti, was under arrest in an
   Israeli jail). Abbas's reputation as a pragmatist garnered him favour
   with the West and certain elements of the Palestinian legislature, and
   pressure was soon brought on Arafat to appoint him Prime Minister.
   Arafat did so on March 19, 2003; initially Arafat attempted to
   undermine the post of Prime Minister, but eventually was forced to give
   Abbas some degree of power.

   However, the rest of Abbas's term as Prime Minister continued to be
   characterized by numerous conflicts between him and Arafat over the
   distribution of power between the two. Abbas had often hinted he would
   resign if not given more control over the PA's administration. In early
   September 2003 he confronted the PA parliament over this issue. The
   United States and Israel accused Arafat of constantly undermining Abbas
   and his government.
   President of the United States George W. Bush meets with President
   Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority during their trip to New
   York City for the United Nations General Assembly.
   President of the United States George W. Bush meets with President
   Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority during their trip to New
   York City for the United Nations General Assembly.

   In addition, Abbas came into conflict with Palestinian militant groups,
   notably Islamic Jihad and Hamas; his moderate pragmatic policies were
   diametrically opposed to their hard-line approach. Initially he pledged
   not to use force against the militants, in the interest of avoiding a
   civil war, and instead attempted negotiation. This was partially
   successful, resulting in a pledge from the two groups to honour a
   unilateral Palestinian cease-fire. However, continuing violence and
   Israeli "target killings" of known terrorists forced Abbas to pledge a
   crackdown in order to uphold the Palestinian Authority's side of the
   Road Map for Peace. This led to a power struggle with Arafat over
   control of the Palestinian security services; Arafat refused to release
   control to Abbas, thus preventing him from using them in a crackdown on
   militants.

   Abbas resigned from the post of Prime Minister in October 2003, citing
   lack of support from Israel and the United States as well as "internal
   incitement" against his government.

2005 presidential election

   After Yasser Arafat's death Mahmoud Abbas was seen, at least by Fatah,
   as his natural successor.

   On November 25, Abbas was endorsed by Fatah's Revolutionary Council as
   its preferred candidate for the Palestinian presidential election,
   scheduled for January 9, 2005.

   On December 14, Abbas called for an end to violence in the Al-Aqsa
   Intifada and a return to peaceful resistance. Abbas told the Asharq
   al-Awsat newspaper that "the use of arms has been damaging and should
   end". However, he refused to disarm Palestinian militants and use force
   to act against groups that Israel, the United States, and the European
   Union designated as "terrorist organizations".

   With Israeli forces arresting and restricting the movement of his
   running mates, Hamas's boycott of the election, and his campaign being
   given 94% of Palestine TV electoral campaign coverage, Abbas' election
   was virtually ensured, and on January 9 Abbas was elected with 62% of
   the vote as the new president of the Palestinian Authority. (See
   Palestinian presidential election, 2005 for election statistics.)

   In his speech, he addressed a crowd of supporters chanting "a million
   shahids", stating: "I present this victory to the soul of Yasser Arafat
   and present it to our people, to our martyrs and to 11,000 prisoners".
   He also called for Palestinian groups to end the use of arms against
   Israelis.

Post 2005 presidential election

   Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Abbas during Putin's visit to the West Bank
   Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Abbas during Putin's visit to the West Bank

   Despite Abbas' call for a peaceful solution, attacks by militant groups
   continued after his election, in a direct challenge to his authority.
   Islamic Jihad launched a raid in Gaza on January 12, killing one and
   wounding three military personnel in Gaza. On January 13, Palestinians
   from Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hamas, and the Popular
   Resistance Committees launched a suicide attack on the Karni crossing,
   killing six Israelis. As a result, Israel shut down the damaged
   terminal and broke off relations with Abbas and the Palestinian
   Authority, stating that Abbas must now show a gesture of peace by
   attempting to stop such attacks.

   Abbas was formally sworn in as the President of the Palestinian
   National Authority in a ceremony held on January 15 in the West Bank
   town of Ramallah.

   On January 23, 2005, Israeli radio reported that Abbas had secured a
   30-day ceasefire from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. On February 12, lone
   Palestinians attacked Israel settlements and Abbas quickly fired some
   of his security officers for not stopping the attacks in a ceasefire.

   On April 9, 2005, Abbas said that the killing of three Palestinians in
   southern Gaza by Israeli soldiers is a deliberate violation of the
   declared ceasefire deal. "This violation is made on purpose," Abbas
   said in a written statement sent to reporters in the West Bank city of
   Ramallah. Abbas made the statement shortly after three Palestinian
   teenage boys were shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza town
   of Rafah. Israel claimed they thought the boys were attempting to
   smuggle weapons, while Palestinians claimed a group of boys were
   playing soccer and three of them went to retrieve the ball near the
   border fence.

   "The Palestinian National Authority will not turn a blind eye to the
   shedding of the blood of our people and our children. We can never
   accept opening fire at our children who pose no danger at all," said
   Abbas. Abbas said the Palestinian children "are as precious to their
   parents as the Israeli children to their parents." Condemning the
   Israeli shooting as "unjustified", Abbas urged Israel to take serious
   actions to show commitment to the truce.

   In May of 2005, Abbas travelled to the White House and met with
   President George W. Bush of the United States. Bush, in return for
   Abbas' crackdown on terrorists, pledged $50 million in aid to the
   Palestinian Authority and reiterated the U.S. pledge for a free
   Palestinian state. It was the first direct aid the United States has
   given to them, as previous donations have gone through non-governmental
   organizations. The next day Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada
   pledged $9.5 million in new aid for judicial reform and housing
   projects, monitors for the coming Palestinian elections, border
   management and scholarships for Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon.

   On July 25, 2005 he announced that he will move his office to Gaza
   until the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops. He will also be
   co-ordinating the Palestinian side of the withdrawal, and to mediate
   between the different factions.

   On August 9, 2005 he announced that Palestinian legislative elections,
   originally scheduled for July 17, will take place in January of 2006.
   On January 15, 2006 he declared that despite unrest in Gaza, he would
   not change the set date of the elections ( January 25), unless Israel
   decided to prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from voting. Hamas
   won a majority of votes in the PA legislature in this vote.

   On January 16, 2006 he said that he would not run for office again at
   the end of his current term.

   On May 25, Abbas gives Hamas a 10 day deadline to accept the 1967
   cease-fire lines.

   On June 2, Abbas again announced that if Hamas does not approve the
   prisoner's document - which calls for a two-state solution to the
   Israeli-Palestinian conflict according to the 1967 borders - within two
   days, he would present the initiative as a referendum. This deadline
   was subsequently extended until June the 10th 2006. Hamas spokespeople
   stated that a change in their stance will not occur, and that Abbas is
   not constitutionally permitted to call a referendum, especially so soon
   after the January elections.

   Mahmoud Abbas warned Hamas on October 8, 2006 that he will call new
   legislative elections if it does not accept a coalition government. To
   recognize Israel is a condition he has presented for a coalition. But
   it is not clear if Abbas has the power to call new elections.

   On December 16 Abbas called for new legislative elections, to bring an
   end to the parliamentary stalemate between Fatah and Hamas in forming a
   national unity government.

Quotes

     * "There is absolutely no substitution for dialogue." (2003)
     * "The little jihad is over, and now we have the bigger jihad - the
       bigger battle is achieving security and economic growth" (2005)
     * "From here [the Gaza withdrawal], our people begin the march
       towards establishing an independent Palestinian state with
       Jerusalem as its capital"
     * "Today we are visitors to the airport (referring to Yaser Arafat
       International Airport), tomorrow we will come here as travellers."
       ( 19 August 2005)
     * “His Holiness was moved to receive this accolade from the people of
       Bethlehem and paid special attention to the message of the
       passport.” On giving the Bethlehem Passport to His Holiness Pope
       Benedict XVI. The citation refers to "all people who uphold a just
       and open society."
     * "I renew my commitment to continuing the road he [Arafat] began and
       for which he made a lot of sacrifices, until the Palestinian flag
       flies from the walls, minarets and churches of Jerusalem." (2005)

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