RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestine Liberation Organization’s ruling central council gathered here this week to extend the soon-to-expire term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a session that promised to say as much about the division in Palestinian politics as about the 74-year-old leader’s standing.
Delegates to the roughly 120-member body, representing a collection of political parties, labor unions and other organizations, said that with little hope of elections soon, they would authorize Abbas to stay in office indefinitely. The Islamist Hamas movement’s control of the Gaza Strip forced cancellation of a vote set for January, when Abbas’ current term ends, and little progress has been made toward a reconciliation agreement that would allow the vote to be rescheduled.
Delegates said they also planned to endorse Abbas’ policy of refusing to start new peace negotiations with Israel absent a comprehensive freeze on the expansion of its presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — areas that the Palestinians expect to be part of their future state.
