The expectation is that whoever holds the role would be the frontrunner to succeed President Mahmoud Abbas, 89.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has announced the creation of a vice presidency under 89-year-old leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has not specified a successor.
After a two-day meeting, the body’s central council voted on Thursday to create the role of vice chairman of the PLO Executive Committee. This position would also be referred to as the vice president of the State of Palestine, which the Palestinians hope will one day receive full international recognition.
The expectation is that whoever holds that role would be the frontrunner to succeed Abbas, though it’s unclear when or exactly how it would be filled. Abbas is to choose his vice president from among the other 15 members of the PLO’s executive committee.
The PLO is the internationally recognised representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited autonomy in some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Abbas has led both entities for 20 years.
Hamas, which won the last national elections in 2006, is not in the PLO. Hamas seized control of Gaza from PA security forces in 2007, and reconciliation attempts between the rivals have repeatedly failed.
Polls in recent years have shown plummeting support for him and his Fatah party.
Western and Arab donor countries have demanded reforms in the PA for it to play a role in post-war Gaza. The authority is deeply unpopular and faces longstanding allegations of corruption and poor governance. Appointing an heir apparent could be aimed at appeasing his critics.
Hamas slammed Abbas on Thursday for comments he made a day earlier, where he described the group as “sons of dogs” and urged it to release Israeli captives and lay down arms.
“Abbas repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame for the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing aggression on our people,” Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza resumed on March 18, at least 1,928 people have been killed there, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted in October 2023 to at least 51,305, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Abbas has been seeking greater relevance and a role in post-war planning for the Gaza Strip after having been largely sidelined.
Talks on a new ceasefire appear to have made little progress, and a Hamas delegation is in Cairo for renewed negotiations with key Egyptian and Qatari mediators.