Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad speaks with President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah. (Maan Images)

If nothing else, Mahmoud Abbas spurred a flurry of reaction and speculation about the future of the struggle for Palestinian statehood after he stated his desire in a speech on Thursday not to run again for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority.

Fatah supporters rallied across the West Bank on Friday to urge him to reconsider, while Palestinian leaders from both within and outside his own party closed ranks around him. Further afield, Arab, European and Turkish officials have expressed their hope that Mr Abbas might yet be persuaded otherwise.

Reactions from Israel and the US were noticeably muted, however. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said she looked forward to continuing to work with Mr Abbas in any capacity, a somewhat cryptic statement. The Israeli government, perhaps wisely, refused to voice much of an opinion. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, simply underlined the importance to Israel of the negotiations process while other officials said Mr Abbas' decision was an internal Palestinian matter.

By contrast, Khalid Meshaal, the exiled Hamas leader, said Mr Abbas should abandon the negotiations track with Israel and the US and focus on forging Palestinian unity.

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