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Abu Mazen: The Strongest of Weak Leaders

Abu Mazen is not a weak leader as so many tend to claim, Ben Caspit writes; it's Israel that's been suffering from weak leadership ever since the days of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.  
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 26, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3EAX8
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The theory is that if we were to look for the most common expression used to describe Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen, “weak leader” would undoubtedly be at the top of the list. Ever since that day when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called him a hatchling whose feathers haven’t sprouted yet, we’ve been hearing the same refrain: “Abu Mazen is weak.”

Either he’s too weak to control the territories under his authority, or too weak to enter into real negotiations with Israel. Nor can we ever forget how his conspicuous weakness allowed Hamas to seize control of the Gaza Strip and gather it up into its own nest, like some abandoned egg. Abu Mazen’s weakness will always be there, right in front of us, allowing us to blame him for one thing or another. “It’s not us; it’s him,” regardless of what happens. He’s such a weakling after all.

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