In four years as Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas has traveled to the far corners of the earth, but never set foot in the West Bank's largest city, Hebron. Ordinary Palestinians have long grumbled about their leader's trips abroad, some taken during times of intense crisis, such as last year's fierce internal fighting that led to the takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas. Abbas aides say he's helping the Palestinian cause by rallying international support. They say the day-to-day government is the prime minister's job and Abbas, who was in Chechnya on Sunday, is continuing a pattern set by his predecessor, frequent flyer Yasser Arafat. “The world is still supporting us...simply because of our efforts, the efforts of President Abbas and before that the late president, Yasser Arafat,” said Abbas aide Nimer Hamad. But the globetrotting Abbas was reminded recently by Fatah district leaders that he had never been to Hebron. Abbas, who also hasn't been to the nearby towns of Jenin, Qalqiliya and Tulkarem as president either, told the Fatah chiefs he'd get out more often but didn't make a firm commitment. His performance, including the loss of Gaza and his failure to reach a peace deal with Israel, will come under more scrutiny as he struggles for renewed political legitimacy. Since 2005, Abbas has visited dozens of countries - several of them repeatedly. The list includes many Arab and European countries as well as Chile, Mauritania, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Brazil, New Zealand, Pakistan, Senegal, Malta, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mali and Brunei. On Friday, he met in Washington with President George W. Bush and was headed to Moscow, but made a stop in Chechnya first, where he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with hopes to secure Russian support in keeping Middle East peace efforts on track. Since the West Bank doesn't have an airport, Abbas must cross into neighboring Jordan, where he often spends extra time at his villa there. He takes his private plane on short trips, but the United Arab Emirates lends him a larger plane for longer hauls. The only other West Bank towns he's visited, aside from Rammallah where his government offices are; consist of Nablus, Jericho and Bethlehem, and always for very specific reasons. Jericho was the preferred venue for hosting foreign leaders early in his term, and he attends Christmas festivities in Bethlehem annually. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and international Mideast envoy Tony Blair have all visited the West Bank town of Jenin, held up as a model of Abbas' law-and-order reforms, while Abbas has not. The foreign trips have paid off, Hamad said, even to Sri Lanka, not a major player in Mideast politics. “The president's visit to Sri Lanka was very important,” Hamad said. “This is a friendly country, and Abbas' photo is still in the airport of Sri Lanka.”
