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And to many here, the PA’s handling of Richard Goldstone’s UN report on the conflict in Gaza has been mixed up and limp.
What began as the publication of a damning report on Israel’s military conduct – although it also condemned Hamas – has turned into an embarrassing debacle for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader.
Palestinians were outraged after the authority last week, under Israeli and US pressure, abruptly halted its drive to speed the report, which accuses both sides of war crimes, to the higher echelons of the mechanisms of international justice.
The PA initially urged UN human rights council members to refer the issue to the powerful Security Council which could in theory ask the International Criminal Court to open a war crimes prosecution.
But when the day of the vote came, the authority backed deferring discussion until March.
In response, rights groups in the PA’s nerve centre of Ramallah took to the streets to denounce the decision.
Gazans threw shoes – a sign of disrespect in Arabic culture – at Mr Abbas’s portrait on posters that branded him a traitor.
Syria cancelled a planned visit by Mr Abbas to Damascus. An Israeli-Arab political party urged him to step down.
The authority’s damage limitation exercises have done little to help.
Some PA figures initially denied a change in policy, while others tried to cast the move as a step to allow more time to build consensus.
On Sunday Mr Abbas ordered an “investigation” into how his own government made the decision.
On Wednesday one senior figure, Yasser Abed Rabbo, conceded the move was a “mistake”.
Meanwhile negotiator Saeb Erekat has been threatening to name other countries – hinting that these include Arab governments which would face domestic anger – that he says pressured the Palestinians to back down.