Mahmoud
Abbas has been the president of the Palestine Liberation Organization
since 2005. While Hamas disputes his claim on the Presidency,
worldwide consensus supports Abbas' position. Born in Palestine, he
moved as a teenager to Syria during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and
attended Syrian, Egyptian, and Soviet universities; his doctoral
dissertation concerned supposed links between Nazism and Zionism. He
joined the Fatah party soon after its founding, eventually becoming
prime minister under Arafat in 2003.
After
Arafat's death, many in Fatah considered Abbas the logical next
president; this was confirmed in elections held in early 2005. As
president, he must balance Palestinian demands for progress and
opportunities with outside calls for security. His rejection of
violence in favor of negotiations has won him admiration from the
international community, but Palestinians want to see tangible
change. In 2011, he controversially asked for Palestinian statehood
at the UN general assembly.
See also http://bbc.in/4BOisb.
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