Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) central committee meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah Oct. 24, 2009. (Fadi Arouri/Reuters)

Is Mahmoud Abbas really ready to quit this time?

Worn out has-been or drama queen? Interpretations of the Palestinian president's threat to quit vary greatly.

By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost
Published: November 12, 2009 08:35 ET
Updated: November 20, 2009 16:27 ET

JERUSALEM — Sometimes a quitter really does quit for good. 

The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, announced last week that he wouldn’t run for re-election in the proposed January elections. Back when he was Yasser Arafat’s deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organization, Abbas sulked off to his home in the Persian Gulf several times. As...

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