JERUSALEM — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, citing dismay over the progress of U.S.-brokered peace initiatives, said Thursday that he does not want to run for re-election when his term ends in January, potentially upending the Obama administration’s strategy for the region.
Abbas’ announcement follows months of failed attempts by the U.S. to restart direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. A weekend trip to the region by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accentuated the impasse as the U.S. announced it was scaling back its expectations and Palestinians charged there was a growing pro-Israeli tilt to U.S. policy.
Abbas’ 15-minute address on Palestinian television remained equivocal as to whether he actually intends to leave office in a matter of weeks.
Such a move would throw an already chaotic Palestinian political system into full disarray. But advisers and analysts said it was possible he was merely venting frustration over a dialogue with the U.S. and Israel that has undercut him politically without any marked progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
“I do not wish to run for the upcoming presidential elections,” the 74-year-old leader said. “This decision is not for negotiation or maneuver.”
With a list of detailed steps he thinks are needed to move peace talks forward, the speech seemed designed to leave options open while exerting pressure on Israel and the Obama administration.
The address should “be understood as an urgent scream against the continuing pressure and bending our arms” by the U.S. and Israel, Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said immediately after the president spoke.
After initial optimism that Obama’s election would elevate Palestinian interests, Abbas has been steadily frustrated in his hopes for quick results on issues he regards as central, such as a freeze on the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Instead, his political standing has declined, as decisions made in consultation with the U.S. proved unpopular locally while still failing to produce anticipated Israeli concessions.
“We are at a crossroads,” Abbas said at the start of his speech. “Month after month and year after year we have seen nothing but complacency and procrastination.”
He added that he was particularly “surprised” in recent days when Clinton praised Israel for an offer on settlement construction that fell well short of Palestinian expectations.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not comment on the announcement.
