The long-serving head of Palestine, President Mahmoud Abbas, is likely to retire in the coming months.
A source of the newspaper Al-Hayat, who is close to the politician, named the failure of the Middle East peace process as the reason for such a decision. "His retirement is a protest against all those who failed the political process: the United States, which has not been able to force Israel to comply with the basic obligations (for the solution of the crisis), such as the suspension of the construction of illegal settlements and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails," TASS quoted him as saying.
"The decision of Israel to continue the construction of settlements made it impossible to resolve the conflict based on the creation of two states," the source added.
It is also noted that Arab allies of Palestine are also responsible for the situation in the region. "Arab countries chose new priorities, far from the Palestinian issue," he complained.
Local media reported that Mahmoud Abbas has already held preparations in a number of state institutions to ensure they work after his retirement. According to them, he instructed the creation of a National Council for the election of the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
His comrade and Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, is one of the possible successors to President Mahmoud Abbas.
At the same time, some observers see this as a cunning move, which is aimed at putting a pressure on the US and the EU to revive the political process on the basis of a settlement of the conflict, while maintaining the project of "two states for two peoples," and the cessation of settlement construction.
