Mahmoud Abbas is the President of Palestinian National Authority since 2005. He is best known for his pragmatic approach towards Palestine-Israel conflict. He started his political career in the middle of 1950s while working at Qatar. Later he was picked up by Yasser Arafat to join the Fatah party, which was at the forefront of the Palestinian armed struggle and later became the dominant partner of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. While the group was keen on armed struggle Abbas and his associates gave a call for talks with moderate Israelis. Later, as the organization began to grow, he was given diplomatic duties. When in 2003, United States of America refused to negotiate with Arafat he became the more visible face of the organization and was appointed the Prime Minister of Palestinian National Authority. After Arafat’s death, he became the Chairman of PLO and also the President of Palestinian National Authority. During this period, he not only had to tackle the Israelis, but also armed groups like Hamas. He used his office to wrestle an implicit recognition from United Nation as an independent state.
