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Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat lamented the Palestinian Authority’s powerlessness this week, claiming that Maj.-Gen. Yoav “Poli” Mordechai, Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, is the “acting president of the Palestinian Authority.”In an interview to the Palestinian radio station, The Voice of Palestine, on Monday, Erekat claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was giving more authority to Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, in order to prevent Palestine's appearance as an independent state on the world map.Erekat suggested that the Palestinians could look to change their coordination with Israel, stating that the price the Palestinians pay for not having a state is higher than the price they will pay for redefining their relations with Israel.Erekat's remarks were rejected by Dr. Abd al-Satar Kasim, a professor of political science at Birzeit University in Ramallah, who told the Palestinian Information Center that the remarks were an attempt to “sell illusions and transform his failure as the chief Palestinian negotiator into success.”Erekat's remarks come amid intensive discussions held in Israel in the past few weeks over the growing feasibility of the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.