Mahmoud Abbas Loses Temper in Leaked Recording

An audio leak of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has surfaced on social media. The recording is laced with profanity and insults China, Russia, the United States and the Arab states. The recording has not been authenticated, according to reports in the Palestinian media.

During a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee on Monday evening, Abbas reportedly lost his temper after hearing about the poor showing in recent polls his Fatah list and how it is expected to perform in the legislative elections scheduled to take place next month.

The majority of the committee members also agreed that the Abbas list will not receive more than 50% of the vote, as Abbas had hoped.

Matters reportedly got worse after a member of the committee said that the Future List, which is affiliated with Abbas rival Mohammed Dahlan, could get 29 seats, and that the Freedom list headed by Nasser al-Kidwa, former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s nephew, is expected to get 12 seats.

Abbas lost his temper when a member of the Central Committee, Abbas Zaki, asked him to send a cable of congratulations to the Chinese Communist Party on the centenary of the party’s founding.