Experts: Abbas bid may help his presidency

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' bid for membership as a state in the United Nations has no chance to succeed but could help revive his slumping presidency, Middle East policy experts said Saturday.

Abbas received a hero's welcome in the West Bank Sunday according to the Associated Press, repeatedly shaking and waving his hands to the crowd during a brief speech.

After an Arab Spring in which uprisings across the Middle East dominated global conversation, Abbas' speech Friday to the UN Security Council brought the focus back to the Palestinian-Israeli stalemate.

While experts believe the statehood bid will come up short -- either from a lack of votes on the Security Council or because of a U.S. veto -- some believe Abbas may still reap dividends.

"This was a way for Abbas to grab attention and garner support for his cause," said Daniel Varisco, director of Middle Eastern and Central Asia studies at Hofstra University. "He put himself back in the limelight."

Abbas has limited political power because he's reliant on the United States for aid, has been unable to end Israel's settlement policy and has ceded Gaza to the militant group Hamas, Varisco said. But the push for statehood potentially makes Abbas more relevant in the region.

"He is in such a weak position that I don't think he had any other choice," Varisco said.

Other experts said the move may backfire -- raising the expectations of the Palestinian people only to have them dashed by international political maneuvering.

Mitchell Bard, executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, a Maryland-based think tank, said violence could spike in the Middle East if Palestinian statehood is rejected.

"Abbas acted like the UN was going to cast a vote, they would have statehood and all of their problems with Israel would disappear," Bard said. "That was never going to happen."