Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Born	Mahmoud Rida Abbas; November 15, 1935 (age 90); Safed, Mandatory Palestine
Other names	Abu Mazen
Occupation(s)	Politician, Palestinian President, Chairman of the PLO, Fatah leader
Years active	1950s–present
Known for	Second President of Palestine, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Chairman of Fatah, former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority
Notable work	Through Secret Channels: The Road to Oslo (1995)

Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also referred to as Abu Mazen (, ), is a prominent Palestinian leader who has held the position of the second president of Palestine and head of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) since 2005. Additionally, he has served as the fourth chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 2004 and was chosen as chairman of the Fatah party in 2009.

Abbas secured his presidency of the PNA on 9 January 2005, initially set to last until January 2009, but extended his mandate by invoking the PLO constitution. On 16 December 2009, the PLO Central Council granted him an indefinite term. Although Hamas initially opposed this extension, Abbas continues to hold international recognition, culminating in negotiations that led to the establishment of the 2014 Unity Government and Hamas acknowledging his leadership. His presidency was further confirmed by the PLO Central Council in November 2008.

He was appointed as the inaugural prime minister of the Palestinian Authority from March to September 2003 and had previously directed the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department. Abbas’s career has been marked by controversies and allegations including corruption claims and debates over historical accounts. He remains a key participant in peace dialogues and initiatives aimed at achieving an Israel–Palestine two-state solution.

Early and personal life

Mahmoud Rida Abbas entered the world on 15 November 1935 in Safed, Mandatory Palestine (currently part of Israel). During the 1948 Palestine war, his family sought refuge in Syria. He earned a law degree from the University of Damascus before advancing his studies at Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, where he obtained a Candidate of Sciences degree, equivalent to a PhD. His doctoral thesis was entitled The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism.

Abbas is married to Amina Abbas and fathered three sons. His eldest son, Mazen Abbas, who managed a construction firm in Doha, passed away from a heart attack in 2002 at age 42. The nickname Abu Mazen translates as "father of Mazen." The second son, Yasser Abbas, named after former PA leader Yasser Arafat, is involved in business in Canada. The youngest, Tareq, holds an executive role in business. Abbas is a grandfather to eight grandchildren, six of whom participate in the Seeds of Peace program fostering connections with Israeli youth.

Political activism and career

During the mid-1950s, Abbas engaged in clandestine Palestinian political activities and took a role as Director of Personnel within Qatar's Civil Service among exiled Palestinians. In 1961, he joined Fatah, which was established by Yasser Arafat and associates in Kuwait during the late 1950s. At that time, Arafat was soliciting financial support from affluent Palestinians residing in Qatar, Kuwait, and other Gulf countries.

According to statements by Abu Daoud, some funds collected by Abbas were allegedly diverted without his consent to finance the 1972 Munich massacre. He was among Fatah’s earliest advocates for dialogue with moderate Israeli factions beginning in 1977. In a 2012 interview, Abbas reflected that their armed resistance had initially provided them with credibility necessary for pursuing peace efforts.

In 1977, Abbas advocated for the return of Arab Jews to their original homelands, receiving backing from nations such as Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, and Sudan.

Abbas played significant diplomatic roles that presented a more moderate alternative to the PLO’s revolutionary policies. Notably, he was the first PLO representative to visit Saudi Arabia following the Gulf War in 1993 to mend relations damaged by PLO support for Iraq. On 13 September 1993, Abbas signed the Oslo I Accord on behalf of the PLO and authored a memoir titled Through Secret Channels: The Road to Oslo (1995).

In 1995, he co-developed the Beilin–Abu Mazen agreement alongside Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin, designed as a basis for future Israeli–Palestinian peace arrangements.

In 2016, revelations from the Mitrokhin Archive indicated that Abbas may have acted as an agent codenamed "Krotov" for the KGB around 1985 while in Damascus. Palestinian authorities responded by noting that during this period, the PLO maintained cooperative ties with Moscow and that Abbas served as a liaison for the Palestinian-Soviet friendship organization.

Prime minister

By early 2003, as Israel and the United States declined to engage in talks with Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas emerged as a favored candidate for leadership. Being a founding member of Fatah, he commanded respect within the Palestinian movement, particularly since key figures such as Marwan Barghouti were incarcerated. Abbas's pragmatic approach earned him support from Western nations and certain Palestinian lawmakers. Under international pressure, Arafat appointed Abbas as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority on 19 March 2003. According to Gilbert Achcar, the United States effectively imposed Abbas on Arafat, although many Palestinians regarded Abbas as a Quisling.

A rivalry over power arose between Arafat and Abbas, characterized by disputes regarding the allocation of authority. The U.S. and Israel accused Arafat of sabotaging Abbas’s administration. Abbas threatened to resign unless granted greater administrative powers and confronted the Palestinian parliament in early September 2003 over this matter.

Abbas opposed militant organizations such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement and Hamas, rejecting their hardline methods in favor of pragmatic policies. Initially, he refrained from using force to avoid civil conflict, achieving limited success when militants agreed to observe a unilateral cease-fire. Nonetheless, continued violence and targeted Israeli assassinations pressured Abbas to pledge a crackdown consistent with the Road map for peace. This escalated his struggle with Arafat over control of the Palestinian Security Services, as Arafat withheld authority, restricting Abbas’s capacity to act against militants. Citing insufficient backing from Israel, the U.S., and internal opposition, Abbas resigned from his post as prime minister on 6 September 2003.

2005 presidential election

After Yasser Arafat’s death, Abbas was endorsed by Fatah’s Revolutionary Council on 25 November 2004 as its candidate for the presidential election scheduled for 9 January 2005. On 14 December, he urged an end to violence associated with the Second Intifada, promoting peaceful resistance and stating that "the use of arms has been damaging and should end." Nevertheless, he was unable to disarm Palestinian militants or dismantle groups labeled terrorist organizations.

Due to Israeli constraints on other contenders, Hamas’s boycott, and Abbas receiving 94% of Palestinian electoral campaign television coverage, his victory was nearly guaranteed. On 9 January, Abbas secured the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority with 63% of votes cast. In his acceptance speech, he dedicated his success to Arafat’s legacy and Palestinian detainees while calling for an end to armed assaults against Israelis.

Presidency and PLO leadership

Despite advocating peace, militant operations persisted following Abbas’s election, challenging his leadership. After attacks by Islamic Jihad and others in January 2005, Israel suspended contacts with Abbas and the Palestinian Authority until he took decisive action to curb violence. Abbas was inaugurated on 15 January in Ramallah.

In February 2005, Abbas met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit to reaffirm their commitment to the Roadmap for peace. Sharon consented to release 900 Palestinian prisoners and withdraw from several West Bank towns.

Abbas announced that legislative elections would proceed in January 2006; despite unrest in Gaza, he adhered to this timeline. The elections resulted in a clear victory for Hamas. In January 2006, Abbas declared he would not run for another term. However, political divisions and international sanctions against Hamas’s government prevented new elections; consequently, Abbas extended his presidential mandate beyond its four-year limit by invoking alternative legal interpretations—a move contested by Hamas.

In December 2009, the Palestinian Central Council extended Abbas’s presidency indefinitely. Since then, he has remained president over territories controlled by Fatah. In April 2014, Hamas withdrew its objections to forming a Unity Government with Fatah.

Abbas has endorsed the blockade of Gaza as a tactic aimed at weakening Hamas. In 2010, he opposed lifting Israel’s naval blockade; Egypt shared this position. He supported Egypt’s efforts against smuggling tunnels into Gaza and coordinated flooding operations targeting them. In 2016, Abbas objected to Qatari fuel shipments entering Gaza through Israel due to concerns about tax revenue collection.

In December 2014, following an unsuccessful UN Security Council resolution demanding Israeli withdrawal and recognition of Palestinian statehood by 2017, Abbas applied for Palestine’s membership in the International Criminal Court. This step was perceived as a diplomatic last resort amid internal difficulties including corruption allegations and declining public approval.

In August 2015, Abbas resigned as chairman of the PLO executive committee and called for an emergency meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) to organize elections. The announcement drew criticism and speculation; however, the session was postponed indefinitely. As of October 2023, Abbas continues serving as acting chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

The 2021 Palestinian local elections occurred amid heightened tensions between Abbas and Hamas after he indefinitely postponed both presidential and parliamentary elections.

During the Gaza conflict, Abbas condemned violence targeting civilians on both sides and called for the release of detainees. He expressed concern over Israel’s comprehensive blockade of Gaza. Following the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, he declared three days of mourning and canceled a planned meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. In February 2024, Abbas described a humanitarian aid incident as an "ugly massacre" carried out by Israeli forces. In April 2025, he harshly criticized Hamas as "sons of dogs," blaming them for providing justification for Israel’s assault on Gaza while demanding they free hostages, disarm completely, and relinquish control over the territory.

Designation of successor and potential retirement

As one of the senior global leaders at his age, Abbas faced increasing calls for resignation by late 2024. On 28 November 2024, he designated Rawhi Fattouh as an interim successor to serve until elections could be held following his departure. In March 2025, Abbas revealed intentions to hold legislative elections and to establish a vice presidential position.

In April 2025, Abbas appointed Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as vice president, signaling him as the probable successor. By October, Abbas formally issued a decree naming al-Sheikh as his temporary replacement in case of vacancy, effectively confirming him as heir apparent.

Relations with Israel

In January 2005, Israeli radio sources reported that Abbas had secured a thirty-day truce from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. After attacks on Israeli settlements occurred in February, Abbas dismissed certain security officials for failing to uphold the ceasefire.

Abbas condemned Israeli forces in April 2005 for killing three Palestinian teenagers in Gaza, calling it an intentional breach of the ceasefire. Later that July, he moved his office to Gaza to better coordinate Palestinian activities during Israel’s withdrawal.

By March 2008, Abbas suspended peace negotiations due to ongoing Israeli military actions targeting militants. In May of that year, he threatened to resign if peace talks did not produce an agreement within six months, describing the discussions as deadlocked.

Abbas confirmed later that he had turned down an Israeli proposal offering nearly 95% of the West Bank for a Palestinian state. In September 2008, then-Prime Minister Olmert proposed borders including Israeli annexation of 6.3% of the West Bank compensated by 5.8% from pre-1967 Israeli territory; Abbas rejected this without reviewing detailed maps and insisted on adherence to 1967 borders. Additionally, Olmert’s involvement in a corruption investigation influenced Abbas’s refusal.

In October 2011, Abbas suggested permitting Israel to annex 1.9% of the West Bank. By 2012, he supported a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as capital but encountered criticism over comments regarding Israeli cities.

An International Crisis Group analysis observed that most Israeli officials regard Abbas not as a genuine peace partner but rather as a nonthreatening strategic asset.

In June 2016, Abbas repeated an unfounded claim alleging that Israeli rabbis advocated poisoning Palestinian wells; he retracted the statement the following day and apologized for offending Jewish communities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the remarks as a "blood libel."

File:Direct talks in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on September 14, 2010 2.jpg

Abbas meets with then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Relations with Hamas

In May 2006, Abbas issued a ten-day ultimatum to Hamas to accept the 1967 ceasefire borders.

By December 2006, he called for new legislative elections aimed at resolving the parliamentary deadlock between Fatah and Hamas over forming a national unity government.

In March 2007, a unity government was established incorporating members from both Hamas and Fatah, with Ismail Haniyeh serving as prime minister and independents occupying key ministerial roles.

However, in June 2007, following Hamas’s seizure of Palestinian Authority positions, Abbas dissolved the Hamas-led unity government, declared a state of emergency, and appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister. This appointment faced legal challenges under the Palestinian Basic Law due to lack of approval from the Palestinian Legislative Council. As a result, Haniyeh continued governing Gaza and remains recognized by many Palestinians as legitimate prime minister. Constitutional expert Anis al-Qasem publicly declared Abbas’s appointment unlawful.

Also in June 2007, the European Union committed to resuming direct financial support to the Palestinian Authority while Abbas disbanded the National Security Council, which had been a significant obstacle to unity with Hamas. The United States lifted its fifteen-month aid embargo on the Palestinian Authority and resumed assistance aimed at bolstering Abbas’s West Bank administration. The next day, Fatah’s Central Committee severed all relations with Hamas pending Gaza's return.

In July 2023, Abbas met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh amid Turkey’s mediation efforts seeking reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.

Engagements with International Leaders

In May 2009, Abbas received Pope Benedict XVI in the West Bank, where the Pope expressed support for Palestinian statehood aspirations. During that same month, Abbas traveled to Canada to meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He also visited Venezuela to hold discussions with President Hugo Chávez.

February 2010 saw Abbas embark on his third trip to Japan as Palestinian president, where he met Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and visited Hiroshima. This visit was historic as the first by a Palestinian leader to the city, where Abbas drew analogies between the devastation experienced by Hiroshima and the hardships faced by Palestinians.

In July 2012, Abbas publicly refuted claims made by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding a purported conversation about restrictions on Palestinian refugee returns. Rice maintained her version of events, which was corroborated by her chief of staff.

By January 2019, Abbas assumed the chairmanship of the United Nations' Group of 77, representing Palestine—a non-member observer state—taking over from Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

In 2023, Abbas conducted an official state visit to China, engaging in talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

Allegations of Corruption

A 2012 investigation by the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity brought attention to ongoing corruption issues within Palestinian governmental bodies. Reports from 2003 by CBS News revealed that Yasser Arafat, Abbas's predecessor, allegedly diverted close to $1 billion in public funds for political preservation. The Congressional Research Service’s 2006 analysis linked popular dissatisfaction over corruption to Hamas's electoral success in that year’s parliamentary elections, highlighting accusations against Fatah officials involving misuse of funds and nepotism.

Mohammed Rashid, once an aide to Arafat and himself accused of embezzlement, claimed Abbas’s personal wealth reached $100 million. In July 2012, during a U.S. congressional hearing titled Chronic Kleptocracy: Corruption Within the Palestinian Political Establishment, both Abbas and his sons were scrutinized over corruption allegations. Witness Elliott Abrams testified that such corruption erodes donor trust, thereby affecting financial assistance provided to the Palestinian Authority.

Since 2009, Abbas’s sons—Yasser and Tarek—have been associated with profitable business ventures, including contracts financed partly by U.S. government funds. An article in Foreign Policy implied their affluence derives from monopolizing American cigarette imports, USAID-funded projects, public infrastructure contracts, and preferential access in retail sectors—suggesting their family connections played a role in securing these deals.

In 2012, Yasser Abbas initiated a $10 million defamation lawsuit against Foreign Policy Group LLC and Jonathan Schanzer for statements he claimed were libelous. The suit accused Schanzer of bias and neglecting to seek comment before publication. Although there was speculation about dropping the case to avoid revealing PA financial details, it proceeded but was dismissed in 2013 under Washington D.C.’s anti-SLAPP legislation as an attempt to suppress criticism; this ruling was subsequently appealed.

The 2016 Panama Papers disclosed that Tareq Abbas owns $1 million in shares of an offshore entity connected to the Palestinian Authority. In June 2021, Ramallah witnessed widespread protests against Abbas’s administration following the death in custody of anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat.

Detractors frequently argue that despite Abbas’s verbal opposition, his administration effectively operates as a subcontractor for Israel, contributing to growing disenchantment within the Palestinian Authority.

Published works and remarks concerning the Holocaust

Abbas's CandSc thesis, titled The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement 1933–1945, was finalized in 1982 at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia and defended at the Soviet Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oriental Studies. His dissertation and subsequent book explored subjects including the Haavara Agreement, which involved an arrangement between the Jewish Agency and Nazi Germany to enable Jewish emigration to Palestine. Certain aspects of his research have been labeled Holocaust denial by some Jewish organizations, particularly where he challenged the widely accepted death toll of Jews during the Holocaust and suggested that Zionist provocations contributed to it.

In 1984, Abbas released The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, a work derived from his thesis. Within this publication, he dismissed the figure of six million Jewish victims as a "myth," proposing instead that the actual number was no more than "890,000" or "a few hundred thousand." He contended that this figure had been inflated for political reasons to garner global backing for Zionism. When later questioned on these claims, Abbas acknowledged that he wrote the book during a period of conflict with Israel and would not express such views today. In a 2006 interview with Haaretz, Abbas affirmed that he did not deny the Holocaust, describing it as a horrific crime against humanity.

During a joint press event in Berlin in August 2022 with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Abbas declined to apologize for the 1972 Munich massacre targeting Israeli athletes, instead referencing "50 slaughters" attributed to Israel. Scholz condemned these statements as minimizing the Holocaust’s gravity. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a strong rebuke. Although Berlin authorities initiated a criminal inquiry into incitement, it was subsequently closed due to Abbas's diplomatic immunity.

In August 2023, Abbas asserted in a Fatah address that Hitler targeted Jews because of their "social role" as moneylenders rather than out of antisemitism and claimed Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of Khazars. These assertions drew condemnation from the United States, European Union, France, and Germany. Following this, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo revoked Abbas’s Medal of the City of Paris.

Approval ratings

Abbas reached peak approval ratings of 64% in 2012 and again in 2014 before experiencing a steady decline. By 2017, his approval had fallen to 45%, with a modest rebound to 50% in 2018. Starting in 2019, support waned once more; by 2021, nearly four out of five Palestinians desired his resignation.

In 2022, his approval rating stood at 40%, decreasing further to 32% in 2023. That year saw almost 90% of Palestinians advocating for his resignation amid rising Hamas influence. In 2024, his popularity dropped again to 29%, with disapproval reaching 59%. By May 2025, Abbas recorded an unprecedented low approval rating of only 19%, while disapproval soared to 79%.

External links