The aging president’s authority has eroded amid war in Gaza and Israeli expansion in the West Bank, leaving Palestinians divided and without a clear political path forward.
RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marks his 90th birthday on Saturday confronting his most severe leadership challenge since taking office nearly two decades ago, with his administration largely sidelined from determining Gaza’s future while struggling to maintain relevance in the West Bank.
The nonagenarian leader, who hasn’t permitted presidential elections since 2005, now faces collapsing popular support and diminishing international influence as Israel pursues its war against Hamas in Gaza. The United States has acquiesced to Israel’s rejection of Abbas’s Palestinian Authority playing any governance role in postwar Gaza, further marginalizing the aging leader.
“President Abbas has become more isolated than at any point in his presidency,” said political analyst Khalil Shikaki, whose recent polling shows 80% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign. “There is a profound leadership vacuum at precisely the moment Palestinians most need direction.”
The Palestinian Authority, which administers limited areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has seen its authority steadily eroded by Israeli settlement expansion and financial pressure. Meanwhile, Abbas’s security cooperation with Israel—once praised by Western partners—has damaged his credibility among Palestinians who view the PA as enforcing occupation policies.
The war in Gaza has accelerated this decline, with Hamas gaining popularity despite the devastating conflict. Even within Abbas’s Fatah party, there is growing recognition that his leadership has failed to deliver political progress toward statehood or effectively challenge Israeli policies.
With peace negotiations dormant for years and the international community focused primarily on Gaza ceasefire efforts, the Palestinian leadership appears increasingly disconnected from a population facing unprecedented humanitarian and political crises.
