A former Palestinian official, who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year, has attacked the Palestinian Authority, charging it with widespread mismanagement. Nabil Amr, the former Palestinian information minister, warned that Palestinians have to choose either genuine democracy based on the rule of law or national demise. He said the Palestinian Authority (PA) suffered from “rampant misgovernance, lawlessness and a lack of accountability”. Amr returned this week to his home town of Dura, southwest of Hebron, after a lengthy recuperation in Germany, where he had his right leg amputated. He survived an attempt on his life in the West Bank town of Ramallah a few months ago. Read more about Former minister lashes out at PA 

Mahmoud Abbas was recently selected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. As the sole candidate of Fatah, the faction that dominates the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA), he is almost certain to be elected on 9 January as president of the PA, replacing Yasir Arafat in both key positions. This “smooth transition” will be a great relief to many Western peace process professionals because Abbas has been ready to compromise basic Palestinian rights. But, says EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah, Abbas will not be able to end the resistance to the occupation and deliver the Palestinians to Israel as his Western backers hope. Read more about Why they love Mahmoud Abbas 

Many believe that no leader can ever take the place of Yasser Arafat or cross the red lines that he drew: East Jerusalem, the refugee issue, holding armed militias accountable or halting armed resistance under American or Israeli conditions. Palestinians are in agreement, however, that the passing of their legendary leader will leave behind major changes on the political scene and also influence the work of institutions. And even if the Palestinians - whether those in the Authority, official or national institutions or political parties and factions, were able to smoothly get past the first phase, the fact still remains that they all have many difficult and unpredictable challenges ahead. Read more about Uncertain times 

After days of internal haggling, Fatah has decided unanimously to nominate Mahmud Abbas as its candidate for the forthcoming Palestinian Authority presidential election scheduled for 9 January. The nomination is expected to be approved by Fatah’s revolutionary council and other relevant bodies later this week. It is unclear, though, if the nomination of Abbas, also known as Abu Mazin, was coordinated with Marwan al-Barghuthi, the less experienced but more popular Fatah’s secretary-general who is serving five consecutive life imprisonment terms in Israel for masterminding the Palestinian intifada against the Israeli occupation. Read more about Crowded field for Palestinian election 

The first priority for Palestinian leaders now must be to defend their people against Israel’s relentless colonization and violence and not to negotiate with Israeli guns to Palestinian heads. They must formulate a national strategy to regain Palestinian rights enshrined in UN Resolutions, clearly explain this strategy, and organize Palestinians and allies everywhere to struggle for it. Palestinians should seek to emulate the success of the African National Congress that freed South Africans from apartheid by confronting and defeating injustice, not seeking to accommodate it, writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah. Read more about What Palestinians should do now 

We gather here at difficult times, when it seems that the Palestinian cause has been almost eliminated from the international agenda. The Western world is hailing the new “peace vision” of Sharon’s disengagement plan. The day this plan passed in the Israeli Knesset (“Parliament”) last week was hailed by Le Monde as a historical day. Who would pay attention to the two line news piece that on that same day, the Israeli army killed 16 Palestinians in Khan Younis? But Europe looks the other way, reassured of Sharon’s new vision of peace. Tanya Reinhart comments. Read more about Sharon's Gaza Pullout: Not Gonna Happen! 

As Palestinians mourn the death of one of its most famous resistance leaders, high level political discussions this week were deemed “positive and constructive” with regard to maintaining stability and Palestinian unity. With the death on Thursday of Yasir Arafat, the man who more or less controlled the panorama of Palestinian national struggle against Zionism for the past forty years, the PA and resistance organisations are making strenuous efforts to appear united in the face of mounting uncertainty over the post-Arafat era. Earlier this week discussions took place between the leaders of thirteen Palestinian factions and organisations. Read more about Palestinians embracing post-Arafat era 

Bush and Blair, seemingly jovial over Arafat’s passing, offered yet another non-starter for moving the region from its never-ending peace process to a “lasting peace.” It is said that one can fool some of the people, some of the time, but not all the people, all of the time. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair can’t possibly believe Palestinians will fall for the same tricks that have been thrown at them for years now. The substance of the most recent Bush-Blair statement on November 12 is nothing more that an unmasked and feeble attempt to fool all of the Palestinians, yet again. Read more about Play It Again Bush And Blair  

Hamas has joined other Palestinian political factions in wishing the ailing Yasir Arafat a speedy recovery, but it is also readying for life after Arafat. The ailing Palestinian leader, though disliked by many Palestinians for a variety of reasons, still enjoys widespread respect among the wider public, including the powerful Islamist camp. Hamas realises, as, indeed, does the rest of the Palestinian political class, that the political diminution of Arafat and certainly his death would signal the end of an era and the beginning of a new one whose features and borders are difficult to determine now. Khalid Amayreh reports. Read more about Hamas prepares for post-Arafat era