A precious chance of peace or a poisoned chalice?
And the belt around his waist holds up his pants, not a holster. So when the designated Palestinian prime minister went to battle last week with Yasser Arafat, the master of guerrilla politics and brinkmanship, even some of his advisers were betting against him.
Mr Arafat raked through Mr Abbas' list of cabinet appointees, demanding to weed out anyone who ever criticised him. But Mr Abbas, a 68-year-old academic and Mr Arafat's lifelong deputy, quietly stood firm. In the end, it was a letter of resignation Mr Abbas drafted that put him on top. "He was willing to walk away, and that's a very strong card," said Nabil Shaath, who will serve as foreign minister in Mr Abbas' cabinet.
