Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has been increasingly intolerant to critics of both him and the security organization he heads, according to Palestinian human-rights advocates, lawyers and political activists.
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"The continuing crackdown on public freedoms shows that the Palestinian leadership is nervous and does not want to hear about democracy and freedom of expression," they said, as reported in The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. The statement came the day after P.A. security forces arrested dozens of Palestinian activists on Saturday.
Calls for Abbas to resign have grown especially since the death in June of anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat while in the custody of Palestinian security forces.
The 85-year-old leader was elected for a four-year term in 2005 but has continuously skirted around elections, calling them off repeatedly. The PA was slated to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in June, but Abbas again called them off, blaming Israel.
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According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute published earlier this month, ongoing protests in the West Bank against the PA over the killing have expressed deep dissatisfaction over ongoing corruption and the absence of democracy.
The unrest followed the decision this spring by Abbas to postpone elections out of a fear of losing to other factions, namely Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, designated as a terrorist group by the Israel, US, Canada, the European Union and Egypt, ousted Abbas' Fatah-led government from Gaza in a military coup in 2007, effectively splitting the Palestinian areas into two political entities. All efforts made over the past decade to promote a reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions – the latest brokered by Egypt in late 2017 – have failed.
JNS.org contributed to this report.
