Surprise: Abu Mazen and Fayyad have no mandate

We already knew that Abu Mazen's term in office expired in January 2009, but his mandate is even weaker than that statement indicates. The 18-member PLO Executive Committee, which met in Ramallah last week to approve the Palestinians' participation in the direct talks with Israel, is dominated by unelected veteran officials.Only nine PLO officials attended the meeting. The PLO constitution