308 ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS
A more important step came a week later when Abbas secured acceptance of a short-
term cease-fire by Hamas and other groups engaged in violence against Israelis. With
that agreement in hand, Abbas met with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon on Feb-
ruary 8, and the two announced mutual cease-fires of an uncertain duration. The Pales-
tinian groups agreed in mid-March to extend the cease-fire for the rest of the year, a
pledge that Hamas generally honored but Islamic Jihad and some others did not.
Despite this accomplishment and relative calm, Abbas was unable to use the crucial
first year of his presidency to build a broad base of support for his government and his
declared nonviolent approach to dealing with Israel. Abbas did, however, succeed in con-
vincing Hamas’s leaders to enter elective politics, based on the theory that facing the
voters might force Hamas to moderate its positions. Hamas candidates did unexpectedly
well in local elections held throughout 2005, sweeping them in some areas by capitaliz-
ing on public disgust with the corruption and ineffectiveness of Arafat’s old cronies.
Abbas also failed to prepare adequately for the Palestinian takeover of large por-
tions of the Gaza Strip that for three decades had been held by Israeli settlements or
were the site of Israeli military installations. Sharon had decided in 2004 to evacuate
all Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip. Sections of Gaza erupted in chaos
after the last Israeli soldiers left on September 12, 2005, as armed gangs from the var-
ious factions battled for control of the former Israeli settlement areas. In the eyes of
many Palestinians, they had succeeded in forcing Israel out of Gaza, and they gave
much of the credit to Hamas. Incidents of violence among Palestinian factions took
place in the West Bank as well, serving as an unsettling prelude to the parliamentary
elections scheduled for the following January 2006 that would bring Hamas to power
(Israeli Disengagement, p. 313; Hamas Government, p. 317).
Following are excerpts from the speech delivered to the Palestinian Legislative Coun-
cil by Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on January 15, 2005, following his elec-
tion as president of the Palestinian Authority to succeed the late Yasir Arafat.DOCUMENT
Abbas’s First Address as President
of the Palestinian Authority
JANUARY15, 2005As I address you today, I am full of pride over the Palestinian people’s exceptional
democratic achievement. Our people have stood in the face of the [Israeli] occupation
to say “first and foremost to our selves but also to the whole world” that no matter
how great the challenges may be, we will not give up on our national project. That
no matter how many obstacles may stand in our way; we will not be deterred from
advancing our democratic process. The winner in these elections is the great Palestin-
ian people who have created this democratic epic and who will safeguard it.