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The day after President Mahmoud Abbas announced his impending retirement, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad delivered a speech to participants of the first Nablus Road Race, supporting Palestinians with disabilities.

Fayyad told listeners that the international community had to realize Israel would never voluntarily end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and that the country must be held to account and made to abide by the international resolutions stating the right of Palestinians to have a state on the 1967 boundaries, with its capital in East Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister announced a plan in August that would see Palestinian state institutions built up over the next two years in preparation for the unilateral declaration of statehood.

Despite Palestinian support for his plan, Fayyad has not been named as a possible successor for Abbas when he retires ahead of the January 24 elections.