Glasses drawn up on the nose, whitish mustache, tied tie and well -cut costume …he United States did not grant him a visa to do so, but Mahmoud Abbas did not speak, on video, during the United Nations Summit in New York on September 25. In his speech, where he demanded the end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the leader of the Palestinian authority also condemned the attacks of Hamas. “” Sons of dogs, make what you have “, He had already dropped, last April, against the terrorist group responsible for the attack on October 7.
“In terms of political communication, he distills the elements of language expected by the international community”, However, tempera to Tangwall Campagin David Rigoulet-Roze,, Researcher at the French Institute for Strategic Analysis (IFAS) and editor -in -chief of the journal Strategic orients.
The one we call Abu Mazen directs the Palestinian State (now officially recognized by France and Great Britain) For twenty years. In reality, his mandate should have ended in 2009, but no new presidential election has been organized since – due to the explosive context in the enclave. Born in 1935 in Safed, in Galileo, Mahmoud Abbas comes from the north of the agent Palestine and comes from a Sunni Muslim family. During the first Israeli-Arab war in 1948, he took refuge with his family in Syria, where he studied law, before flying to Moscow for a course in history.
A criticized government
Since the 1950s, Abbas has been one of the main figures of the Palestinian struggle: former Prime Minister of Yasser Arafat and former secretary general of the PLO (Organization of the Liberation of Palestine), he has contributed to the creation of the Fatah (translated by “” conquest »)nationalist party he still directs today.
The main objective of this movement is to release the whole Palestinian territory from “The Zionist entity” In order to create a Democratic and non -confessional Palestine. His position vis-à-vis Hamas has varied little over the story. “MAlgré some attempts to bring together or appeasement, they remain enemy brothers ”, notes the specialist David Rigoulet-Roze.
He would have diverted no less than $ 100 million to increase his personal fortune
Despite its democratic and open ambitions, the government of Mahmoud Abbas is strongly criticized. CErtains even speak of political oppression, especially after the closure of more than 30 websites and the arrest of five journalists in 2017. The Palestinian leader is also accused of corruption :: According to journalist Mohammed Rashid, a former trusted man of Yasser Arafat, he has diverted no less than $ 100 million to increase his personal fortune.
But they are not the only gray areas around Mahmoud Abbas: The 89 -year -old leader is sometimes accused of supporting the terrorism, especially because it qualifies of “Martyrs” Palestinians killed or imprisoned as part of the conflict with Israel.
Since the Oslo agreements of 1993, signed between OLP and Israel to initiate a peace process, Mahmoud Abbas hammers that the Palestinians recognize the Hebrew state, while refusing to consider it as “The state of the Jewish people”. Its position can sometimes seem paradoxical. In his polemical thesis entitled The other side: the secret relationship between Nazism and Zionism (1984), he denounced for example a “Fantastic lie” As for the six million victims of the Holocaust – who would have been exaggerated to justify the creation of the Israeli State – while qualifying, decades later, this same Shoah of “More odious crime against humanity of modern times”.
After David Rigoulet-Roze, From the perspective of possible international recognition of the Palestinian State, Mahmoud Abbas will probably be invited, in particular by the French president Emmanuel Macron, to “Give way to give a new incarnation” to the Palestinian authority. HAS This stage, all options are possible.
