Wow - he really is irrelevant!

You know that Abbas has no power at all when his own diplomats don't listen to him. Arafat has more power today from the grave than Abbas ever had.

One has to ask the question - why can't he just refuse to pay their salary and housing costs? Does this mean that the PA's financial heads are also no longer working for Abbas? Is Kaddoumi on the PA payroll? For all the talk from the EU about overseeing the PA's finances and making sure that their millions in "aid" don't end up going to terror and corruption - are they following the money trail between the PA and its diplomats?

[S]ome of the PA's ambassadors in different countries are refusing to give up their posts to newly appointed envoys.

The PA Foreign Ministry recently decided to replace most of its ambassadors as part of a comprehensive plan to reform the diplomatic corps. Some of the ambassadors, who were appointed by Arafat, have been serving for nearly two decades.

But the move has been openly challenged by veteran PLO leader Farouk Kaddoumi, who is based in Tunis and who regards himself as the real foreign minister of Palestine.

Until recently, Kaddoumi was in charge of all the embassies around the world in the capacity of his job as director of the PLO's political bureau. Kaddoumi sent a letter to the ambassadors instructing them to ignore the new appointments and to remain in their posts.

'I wish to inform you that [PA Foreign Minister] Nasser al-Kidwa does not represent the PLO and, as such, he does not have the power to make changes in the diplomatic corps,' he wrote.

Two ambassadors have already announced that they would not step down - Tahsin Mikati, ambassador to Qatar, and Abdel Shafi Siam, ambassador to Mauritania. Their decision has seriously embarrassed the PA leadership, which is now trying to persuade the hosting countries to deport the two.