After a decade in power, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has little to show.
He is no closer to a deal on Palestinian statehood, has failed to reclaim the Gaza Strip from political rival Hamas, and is being disparaged by some as a pliant guardian of Israeli security needs in the West Bank.
But the typically cautious 79-year-old dramatically changed course in the days before this week’s tenth anniversary in office by signing up to the International Criminal Court. That could allow for war crimes complaints against Israel, in what many believe is his strategy of last resort.
The court bid is part of a wider strategy Palestinians hope will bring international pressure to bear on Israel and improve their leverage in future statehood talks. They say the approach stems from frustration, with two decades of failed talks overseen by staunch Israeli ally America. Israel accuses Abbas of trying to replace negotiations with a campaign to delegitimise the Jewish state.
The move carries unprecedented risks, but Palestinian officials say Abbas had to act.
Palestinians close to Abbas say he has been under intense domestic pressure to challenge Israel since the summer’s 50-day Gaza war between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, many of them civilians, along with 72 people on the Israeli side.
The Israeli response to the court bid was swift. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu froze the monthly transfer of $120 million in taxes that Israel collects for the Palestinians, forcing the Palestinian Authority — propped up by foreign aid and chronically short of funds — to immediately halt salary payments for 153,000 government employees.
Many civil servants live on a month-to-month basis and have mixed feelings about joining the court.
Abbas, sworn in as president on 15 January, 2005, spent his tenth anniversary on Thursday in Cairo, appealing to Arab League officials to keep promises to give $100 million a month to make up for the Israeli sanctions. Arab countries have broken such promises in the past.
Netanyahu has no immediate plans to resume tax transfers, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said. Withholding the money “is a way to express our deep displeasure at the kind of steps the Palestinians have been taking lately,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority was set up in interim peace agreements in the 1990s as a stepping stone to Palestinian independence. Negotiations on a final deal repeatedly broke down, leaving the Palestinian Authority in place. It still administers 38% of the West Bank, but lost Gaza to a Hamas takeover in 2007.
If the Palestinian Authority were to dissolve over its money woes, Israel, as military occupier, would be responsible again for providing services to Palestinians, a costly task. Israel also would lose out on coordination with Abbas’ security services, which has helped prevent militant attacks.
Abbas has given no indication that he plans to step aside.
He was initially elected for four years, but stayed in office because the formation of rival Palestinian governments, after the Hamas takeover of Gaza, prevented new elections. He has not groomed a successor and instead has tried to beat back potential challengers.
Israel holds national elections on 17 March. Netanyahu, who is seeking a third consecutive term, has refused to accept the pre-1967 line as a starting point for border talks and has continued to build Jewish settlements on occupied lands throughout his six years in power.
If he is re-elected, Abbas is bound to step up the campaign for greater recognition of a State of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967. The UN General Assembly recognized such a state in 2012.