Does it really matter – Peter
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, was once seen as the man most likely to become the first leader of an independent Palestine.
And Anthony Albanese’s symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday, following similar moves by Britain and France, came after a phone call last week to Abbas – tacit recognition that Abbas remains the closest thing the Palestinians have to a head of state, albeit a diminished one.
Abbas was a key player in the peace talks of the 1990s that brought a negotiated settlement with Israel – the so-called two-state solution – tantalisingly close, until it was undone by deadlock, factional infighting and violent pushback from both sides.
But many Palestinians now see him as an irrelevance, a man who has clung to power for decades, presiding over a government beset by allegations of inefficiency and corruption. In June 2021, hundreds protested in the West Bank against the Abbas administration after activist Nizar Banat died in government custody.
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