No takers for Abbas' Palestinian presidency

By Douglas Hamilton

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Younger Palestinian leaders were in no rush on Friday to step into the shoes of President Mahmoud Abbas after he said he did not want to run for re-election in January.

Making clear Abbas' Fatah movement is, so far, unwilling to take the 74-year-old president at his word, none of the men seen as potential successors threw his hat into the ring after Abbas's announcement on Thursday.

Israel and the United States were also careful not to take his decision as irrevocable. They rely on Abbas as their partner in the diplomatic drive for a Middle East peace treaty.

"We've seen episodes of leaders making false exits. But what's important here is the message he's sending," said one senior European diplomat close to the peace process. "Is it a call for attention? A warning? An I-told-you-so?"

"I see it as not yet a political testament but an invitation to 'Grasp this one, it might be your last chance'," he said.

In his address to the nation, Abbas on Thursday expressed disappointment with U.S. President Barack Obama for "favouring" Israel in arguments over relaunching peace talks and said his decision to stand down was not a negotiating tactic.

He said he had told Palestine Liberation Organisation leaders "I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election" for President of the Palestinian Authority on January 24 .

His departure now could throw a wrench into the shuddering machinery of a "peace process" that is deadlocked. But with the Palestinians deeply split between Fatah and the Hamas movement, some analysts doubt there will be an election in January.