Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that he would not seek re-election in elections scheduled for January 2010. In a televised speech, Abbas said the impasse in efforts to resume peace negotiations with Israel had prompted his decision not to run again. But he reiterated his belief that peace with Israel was "still possible".
The secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Mussa of Egypt, asked Abbas to reconsider his decision and assured him of his backing. In the past, Abbas has repeatedly threatened to resign, but this time insisted in his speech that the announcement to retire was “not a stunt”.
The Israeli government refrained from officially commenting on the announcement and said the matter was an internal Palestinian affair. However, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Israeli radio: "It is evident that Israel and the United States are interested in a Palestinian leadership that is responsible and pragmatic," he said. An unnamed senior Israeli official was quoted by the news agency AFP as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw Abbas "as a partner for peace." The newspaper ‘Haaretz’ wrote that Israeli President Shimon Peres had telephoned Abbas a day before his announcement to try and talk him out of quitting the presidency.
