On 25 November 2004, Abbas was endorsed by Fatah's Revolutionary Council as its preferred candidate for the presidential election, scheduled for 9 January 2005. Polls will be scheduled within six months under a deal reached between Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh. According to Gilbert Achcar, the United States imposed Abbas on Arafat, the democratically elected leader, though the majority of Palestinians thought of the former as a Quisling.[27]. Mahmoud Abbas (Arabic: مَحْمُود عَبَّاس‎, romanized: Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen (Arabic: أَبُو مَازِن‎, ʾAbū Māzin), is the President of the State of Palestine and Palestinian National Authority. [29] As of December 2015, he was still acting as Chairman, pending approval by the Palestinian National Council.[30]. [60], Efraim Sneh, a former minister in the Israeli cabinet, has called Abbas the most "courageous partner we have had." (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File), Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories, Suspected car-ramming at Tel Aviv anti-government protest; no one injured, Police searching for driver after mistakenly allowing him through checkpoint; thousands block city traffic during rally against restrictions during virus lockdown; 12 arrested, Hundreds of small, local anti-Netanyahu protests nationwide ahead of new limits, Police seeking to question protesters filmed feuding with soldier, cop, Police minister criticizes officers for allowing Tel Aviv protest march, ‘Jerusalem is our city,’ Turkey’s Erdogan declares, Addressing lawmakers in Ankara, Turkish president says the Palestinian people have lived in the capital ‘for thousands of years’, Armenia recalls ambassador from Israel to protest sale of weapons to AzerbaijanÂ, Is my sukkah an outdoor space? Palestinian officials replied that at the time in question, the PLO collaborated with Moscow, and that Abbas was their liaison man in the Palestinian-Soviet friendship foundation. Mahmoud Abbas was born in 15 November 1935[13] in Safed, in the Galilee region of Mandatory Palestine (now Israel). In September, 2013, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed the suit using D.C.'s anti-SLAPP measure. "[83] In response, Rice denied that she fabricated it. He also visited Hiroshima, the first such visit by a Palestinian leader, and spoke about the suffering of Hiroshima, which he compared to the suffering of the Palestinians. The debate was entitled Chronic Kleptocracy: Corruption Within the Palestinian Political Establishment[47] In his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia, Elliott Abrams stated that "Corruption is an insidious destroyer not only of Palestinian public finance but of faith in the entire political system. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. The eldest, Mazen Abbas, ran a building company in Doha and died in Qatar of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 42. [17], He is married to Amina Abbas and they had three sons. In his 1984 book, based on the dissertation, Abbas dismissed as a "myth" and "fantastic lie" that six million Jews had died in the Holocaust,[88][89][90] writing that the real figure of Jews killed by Germans was at most "890,000" or "a few hundred thousand". Times of Israel Community — if the work we do is important to you, join us! #Palestinians Need to Discard and Disregard #US and International Misrepresentations https://t.co/hZqjwd5KTp via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/uIuX30dudE. Who am I to air my struggle, when so many cannot inhale? “The intransigence of Arafat’s successors continues to leave the Palestinian Arabs behind while the rest of the Arab world moves forward. Abbas accused Schanzer of acting with malice and pursuing an agenda against the brothers, even though he also contended that he's a private citizen and not a public figure, so we wouldn't need to prove actual malice to win. "[98][99], During a meeting of the Palestinian National Council in 2018, Abbas stated that Jews in Europe were massacred for centuries because of their "social role related to usury and banks. I am saying we never had that conversation.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas flashes the V-sign as Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan looks on after their meeting with British … To recognize Israel was a condition he has presented for a coalition. Who am I to air my struggle, when so many cannot inhale? It emerged in September 2016 that Abbas may have once worked for the KGB, as early as 1985 in Damascus, according to a document uncovered in the Mitrokhin Archive, where he is registered as agent "Krotov". Palestinian officials have attempted to convince them otherwise all summer, beginning with the campaign against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank.