On December 22, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), dissolved the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), even though the law does not give him this power. To circumvent this obstacle, Abbas formed a "Constitutional Court" on his own, without the approval of the PLC, and gave it the power to dissolve the council, completely disregarding the principles of democracy and national unity.

Abbas made the controversial move at a time when his popularity is at an all-time low. In a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) in December, 64 percent of respondents called for Abbas's resignation. The poll also showed that if elections were held, a majority of Palestinians would vote in favor of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.

The main reason behind Abbas's declining popularity is his failure to manage political and economic affairs. The Palestinian people hold him responsible for leading the Palestinian struggle to a dead end - the Oslo Accords. After three decades of promises, Abbas, the architect of Oslo, as he is called, has delivered nothing but tyranny, corruption, national disintegration, and security coordination with the Israeli occupation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and previous occupation leaders have succeeded in destroying all the hopes that Abbas promoted. There is no freedom from occupation, no independent state, no Jerusalem, no return of refugees, and no dignified life. On the contrary, illegal settlements, land confiscation, killings, arrests, house demolitions, and desecration of holy sites have increased. Not content with his failure with the occupation, Abbas allied himself with all the undemocratic regimes in the region and condemned the Arab revolutions as foreign conspiracies.

Internally in Palestine, there is no democracy. Abbas has concentrated power in his hands - he is the president of the Palestinian Authority, head of the Liberation Organization, and head of Fatah, among other positions. He is still in power after 14 years and has not allowed the Legislative Council to convene for 11 years. There is no rotation of power, no cultivation of young leaders, no collective decisions, and no tolerance for criticism or freedom of expression. Local and international human rights organizations have documented the abuses of his security services, and many Palestinians have been tortured to death in his prisons.

Abbas has effectively succeeded in dismantling Palestinian society geographically, politically, and socially. Since rejecting the results of the 2006 elections - in which his opposition won the Legislative Council - he has systematically undermined the work of the 10th Palestinian government, ultimately leading to the division of Palestine into two entities: one under his rule and the other under the administration of Hamas.

Politically, Abbas has not held any elections and seems content to remain in office indefinitely. Even his own Fatah movement has not escaped the split, and is now dominated by two wings, one affiliated with him and the other with his arch-nemesis Mohammed Dahlan, the former head of the Preventive Security Service in Gaza. Abbas did not respect national unity and only consulted other factions when he needed to cover his unpopular decisions with formal legitimacy.

Socially, rampant corruption has contributed to the creation of a class of officials and their relatives who see themselves as superior to ordinary Palestinians and enjoy all kinds of privileges: Jobs, housing projects, government deals, private security protection, and immunity from accountability. This new class gobbled up billions, while the average Palestinian was left to suffer from poverty and poor infrastructure.

Instead of taking political and economic responsibility - by tendering his resignation as respected leaders do - Abbas was busy unleashing a torrent of insults against everyone, including his American and Israeli allies. But these insults did not embarrass those, but rather the Palestinians themselves, who were offended by their president's vulgar rhetoric. It was a double failure: A failure of performance and a failure of rhetoric.

Many wonder: Where does Abbas derive his legitimacy from? Clearly, it does not come from the Palestinian people. Rather, as PCPSR director Khaled Choucair said, it comes from the international community, which is tired of his failure but sees no alternative to him. At the same time, Israel rejoices in his security coordination and his ability to fragment Palestinian unity, giving it cover to continue destroying the two-state solution.

Who could have imagined that this man, who was only a minor member of the PLO leadership, would rule the Palestinian people longer than the late leader Yasser Arafat, considered by many to be the "father of the Palestinian cause"? Arafat ruled for almost ten years, while Abbas boasts 14 years in office.

Arafat may have talked a lot about democracy and never actually practiced it, but he had what Palestinians call a "history of struggle." He fought the Battle of Dignity in 1968, stood up to the Israeli occupation in Lebanon and the West Bank, and was assassinated by the occupation - which most Palestinians believe increased his legitimacy and prestige. Abbas, on the other hand, although he leads Fatah - an armed resistance movement - has never carried a weapon in his life.

With his political and economic failure, internal and external isolation, advancing age, and deteriorating health, Abbas will continue to be prone to making more suicidal decisions. Unfortunately, their consequences will not be limited to his own tenure.
Source: Middle East Monitor