Cairo (Egypt), 15 Nov. (LaPresse/AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas turns 90 today. The leader still maintains authoritarian power in small areas of the West Bank, but he is marginalised and weakened by Israel, deeply unpopular among Palestinians and struggling to have a say in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the war. The world's second-oldest serving president, after Cameroon's 92-year-old Paul Biya, Abbas has been in office for 20 years and has failed to hold elections for most of that time. His weakness has left the Palestinians without leadership, critics say, at a time when they face an existential crisis and hopes of creating a Palestinian state, the centrepiece of Abbas's agenda, seem more remote than ever. Israel has tightened its control over the West Bank, where Jewish settlements are expanding and settler attacks on Palestinians are on the rise. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing allies are pushing for outright annexation, a move that would undermine any remaining chance of statehood. For now, the United States has yielded to Israel's refusal to allow Abbas's Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza in the aftermath of the war. Without an effective leader, critics fear that Palestinians in the territory will be forced to live under an international body dominated by Israel's allies, with little say and no real chance of achieving statehood.
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