RAMALLAH, West Bank — After casting his ballot in Fatah’s recent elections, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Dec. 3 it had been a peak democratic experience. “This is a democratic festival by all accounts, the world could see that these meetings were correct and transparent and democratic.”
There was no hint of irony in Abbas’ words. However, Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist who has lived in Ramallah for over a decade, quoted a non-Fatah PLO activist as saying, “Abbas’ nondemocratic methods give his principled position as a statesman a bad name.”
