Mahmoud Abbas
Posted on 11/11/2004 3:41:22 PM PST by El Oviedo
Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, was born in 1935 in the town of Safad, in what is now northern Israel. In 1948, Abbas and his family moved to Syria. During the late 1950s, Abbas lived in Qatar where he spent time recruiting support for the Palestinian liberation movement.
Along with Yasser Arafat, Abbas was one of the primary founders of Fatah, which has held the majority of representatives in the Palestine Liberation Organization since its formation in 1964. As a member of the PLO, Abbas attempted negotiations with some Israeli leaders, but many fundamentalist Palestinian leaders criticized Abbas for his moderate approach. Nevertheless, Abbas was elected to the PLO Executive Committee in 1980, which comprises less than twenty individuals who oversee various departments within the PLO.
In 1984, Abbas was appointed to direct the PLO Department of National Affairs. Primarily through secret negotiations with Israeli leaders, Abbas contributed a great deal to the Oslo Accords, and he accompanied Arafat to a White House signing ceremony in 1993. Since that time, Abbas has called for a halt to Palestinian violence in order to remove Israel's excuse for fighting against Palestinians. After decades in exile, he returned to Palestinian territories in 1995.
Abbas was selected to be the Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee in 1996, and in response to US and Israeli pressure, he was nominated Prime Minister of the Palestinian Legislative Council in April 2003. Although Prime Minister, Abbas' authority was limited by Arafat's refusal to hand over control of security forces and other government functions, which prompted Abbas to resign from the position in early September 2003. As a result of his apparent willingness to negotiate with Israel, Abbas has enjoyed little popular support among Palestinians.
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I am still at a daze that just 9 days after the President got his mandate, the sole obstacle to Israel and Palestinian peace, has been ordered to appear to his creator.
With the victory in Falluja about completed, it appears that we are seeing the makings of a great President. If everything works his way - our economy, war in Iraq, peace in the middle east are obtained during the next 4 years - hey I wouldn't be surprized if he will not end up as "Bush the Great".
I am crossing my fingers.
Any Comments
Abbas may get bumped off by his own crowd for being a peace-nik...
ABBAS and all the other cronies are the same as Arafat so dont be fooled!!!
I heard Jennifer Griffin on Fox News say he was the one who urged Arafat to turn it down.
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