Mahmoud Abbas spent much of his life before becoming Palestinian president in the shadow of Yasser Arafat, long the figurehead of the Palestinian cause, but he has never secured the same status in the role and has not brought his people closer to statehood. Based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the 87-year-old has seen his role further eclipsed by the rise of Hamas, the Islamist group that has controlled Gaza since 2006, and by the expanding Jewish settlements on occupied West Bank land.
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