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Source: https://spectator.org/palestinian-authority-elections-institutional-decay/
Palestinian Elections: Facilitating Change or Masking Decay?
(American Spectator) Andrew Harrod - A Middle East Institute April 8 webinar, "Palestinian Elections: Facilitating Change or Masking Decay?," drove home the failure of Palestinian politicians and their Western supporters to create a stable, workable political system in the West Bank and Gaza. Anti-Israel Palestinian activist Fadi Quran, participating from the West Bank, noted that electing a new Palestinian Legislative Council "won't mean significant political change," as PA President Mahmoud Abbas controls the judiciary, executive, and security forces. Abbas, who has ruled since the PA's only elections in 2006, wants an "illusion of legitimacy" and "certain political gains for himself and his kind of cronies." George Washington University political science professor Nathan Brown said the "elections will not be clean, they will not be fair." He added, "One of the biggest crises for the Palestinian national movement is essentially an institutional one. There are no credible institutions to essentially manage their affairs." Abbas has been ruling by decree since Hamas' 2007 takeover in Gaza.