A senior Fatah Council member was quoted on Friday as saying Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is likely to rethink his decision, announced Thursday night, not to run for the PA leadership in January's elections. Mohammed Shtaya told Al-Jazeera that there would have to be a real change in the political sphere for that to happen.
Despite Abbas's citing of Israel and Hamas as reasons for the decision, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Abu-Mazen's decision was made based on internal PA considerations and that it was not getting involved.