Daily Inspiration Quote by Mahmoud Abbas

Order is the selling point here, but monopoly is the product. When Mahmoud Abbas insists that no state can “afford” multiple authorities existing side by side, he’s framing political pluralism not as a democratic messiness to be managed, but as a fiscal and security liability. “Afford” is doing sly work: it recasts a power struggle as an inevitability of governance, a hard-nosed budgetary fact rather than a contested choice about legitimacy.

The line lands in the specific Palestinian context where sovereignty is incomplete, borders and security are externally constrained, and internal fragmentation has been the defining weakness since the Fatah-Hamas split. In that setting, “several authorities” is not an abstract theory; it’s rival security forces, competing tax regimes, dueling claims to represent “the people,” and a constant invitation for outside actors to pick a partner and deepen the divide. Abbas is arguing, implicitly, that statehood requires a single chain of command and a unified gun.

The subtext is also a warning aimed inward: unity is non-negotiable, and dissent can be reclassified as illegitimate “authority” rather than opposition. That’s the rhetorical pivot authoritarian-leaning leaders often use when they want centralization without admitting they want consolidation. It’s a claim that sounds like civics but functions like a political cudgel.

At the same time, it’s a plea for international credibility. A would-be state that can’t enforce one authority looks, to donors and diplomats, like a risky investment. Abbas is selling coherence as the prerequisite for recognition, even as the conditions that prevent coherence remain partly out of his control.