Mahmoud ‘Abbas, the odds-on favorite to win January 9th’s Palestinian election, has kicked off his campaign sounding very much like the man he hopes to succeed: Yassir Arafat.
While Israeli leadership has been trying to bolster the standing of ‘Abbas among his followers, the would-be president of the Palestinian Authority has shown no signs of reciprocating.
Speaking at a rally in the town of Al-Bireh, ‘Abbas created direct counter-point to the issues about which Ariel Sharon has been trying to convince his own constituency.
In particular, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been insisting that his actions will shore up the viability of what he calls the “settlement blocs” of Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim and Ariel, ‘Abbas specifically named those groups of communities as being unacceptable to the Palestinians.
‘Abbas played down his own differences with Yassir Arafat and in his campaign portrays himself as Arafat’s comrade-in-arms.
He is dwelling on the issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees and a demand that Israel release Marwan Barghouthi, the Fatah Tanzim leader jailed for terrorist murders.
The only conciliatory aspect of the ‘Abbas campaign so far is the call for a negotiated settlement and the insistence that the tactic of unbridled violence is counterproductive.