Protests against Abbas in Brussels. Photo supplied by authorTo anyone familiar with the intricacies of the Palestine-Israel conflict, accusations of corruption and authoritarianism against President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership are hardly novel. Over recent months, the administration has begun to face escalated criticism. At the end of January, for example, my organisation, the Council for MENA Affairs (ForMENA), received a letter denouncing Abbas’ leadership in the strongest possible terms.
Written by representatives of three hundred and fifty public-sector employees whose salaries have recently been withheld – allegedly for disagreeing with Abbas’ policies – the letter was sent to figures prominent in the Arab League and European Union member states. Its key charges read as follows:
“The Palestinian Authority – supposedly committed to the liberation and defence of our people – has joined the ranks of Palestine’s oppressors. The PA now violates, rather than ensures, the rights of Palestinians; it systematically destroys, rather than builds, the institutions of a future Palestinian state; it appropriates funds for its own political purposes, rather than using them to create a democratic, professional and accountable government.
