According to the article, here is the shortlist of candidates:
- Saeb Erekat, serial liar and spinner of bizarre tales
- Jibril Rajoub, who openly says Fatah still embraces violence
- Mohammed Shtayyeh, who makes it very clear that Israel should be destroyed
- Nasser Al-Kidwa, former "foreign minister" who couldn't control his own ambassadors and Arafat's nephew obsessed with proving he was poisoned by Israel
- Nabil Abu Rdainah, who said during the Oslo process ""If [Palestinians] do not regain their full rights and an independent state, we will not let any one in the region live in peace and security"
- Marwan Barghouti, convicted murderer and terrorist leader, still in prison.
Notice that the prime ministers who have been carefully chosen to appeal to the West, Salam Fayyad and Rami Hamdallah, who have no terror connections, are not even being considered. The reason is that they are not Fatah members.
And Fatah is still today a terrorist group with a "military wing," just like Hamas. In fact, just today the Fatah terror group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades announced that "armed resistance" remains an option "until the liberation of the whole of Palestine." You don't have to think too hard about what they mean when they say that. But never has Abbas or any other Fatah leader distanced themselves from anything the Brigades say.
This tells you all you need to know about the Palestinian Arab leaders' "moderation."
And their method to choose the next president tells you all you need to know about their interest in democracy.