Cliff Notes – New PLO Deputy Faces Succession Questions and Crisis of Legitimacy
- The PLO has appointed Hussein al-Sheikh as deputy to Mahmoud Abbas, creating a position that allows for potential succession, though his leadership is not assured due to other candidates’ possibilities.
- This appointment is viewed as a response to external pressures from Arab and European states, aimed at revitalising political legitimacy and overcoming the West Bank’s longstanding political stalemate.
- Despite the leadership change, public skepticism remains high, with a substantial majority of Palestinians expressing distrust in the PA and concerns that al-Sheikh will follow Abbas’s agenda instead of enacting meaningful reforms.
New PLO Deputy Faces Succession Questions and Crisis of Legitimacy
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is paving the way for a generational change. According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the PLO’s Executive Committee has appointed the 64-year-old Hussein al-Sheikh as deputy to the 89-year-old Palestinian president and head of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas.
The committee also appointed al-Sheikh as deputy chairman of the PLO, which is represented by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank.
The position of vice president was only created last week, after the PLO leadership approved a proposal enabling, for example, al-Sheikh to succeed Abbas as Palestinian president in the event of the latter’s death or incapacity.
However, this succession is not guaranteed, as other candidates can also run for the office.
Hussein al-Sheikh is as a close confidant of the current leader Abbas who also heads the Palestinian Authority, or PA. He joined Fatah, the PLO’s largest political faction, at an early age. As a young man, he spent 11 years in Israeli prisons and after he was released he continued to be a member of Fatah, rising up in the ranks. In 2007, Abbas appointed him as director of the Civil Administration of the Palestinian Authority. He is responsible for issuing the sought-after travel permits that allow Palestinians to enter Israel for work and medical treatment.
In this role, al-Sheikh has established close ties to the Israeli security officials. Since 2022, he has also been Secretary General of the PLO.
‘Important step’
According to the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera, the appointment was likely prompted by external pressure from other Arab states, above all Saudi Arabia. European states also, reportedly, pushed for such a move.
It is widely seen as a step towards overcoming the longstanding political stalemate in the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Part of the area has been under the control of the Palestinian Authority since 1994.
Considering no presidential or parliamentary elections have been held in the Palestinian territories for around 20 years, the idea is to strive for greater democratic legitimacy.
Saudi Arabia has welcomed al-Sheikh’s appointment as important “reform steps.”
Several international donors to the Palestinian Authority had made the continuation of their support dependent on political and institutional reforms.
Palestinian skepticism
Palestinians have long been critical of Palestinian President Abbas. According to a surveyconducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in September 2024, 90% of West Bank residents want to see him step down.
The majority of Palestinians lack trust in the work of the Palestinian Authority generally. “It is, therefore, doubtful that the new succession plan will provide any significant impetus to Palestinian society,” according to Simon Wolfgang Fuchs, Middle East researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“Given the close relationship between Abbas and al-Sheikh, it can be assumed that al-Sheikh will pursue the same agenda as Abbas,” he said. In January, hundreds of Palestinians were freed in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
In his view, the main goal of the Palestinian Authority will remain its security coordination with the Israeli authorities. “This is considered more important than the desire to push for an improvement of the increasingly unbearable living conditions in the West Bank,” he said.
“The PA is caught in a dilemma, with its efforts in no way being rewarded by the Palestinians or the Israelis”
Hamas’ take on al-Sheikh
The appointment of al-Sheikh, one-and-a-half years into the current war in Gaza, which was started by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel , comes at a time when decisive changes could be imminent.
A few days ago, a Palestinian official stated that the militant Islamist Palestinian group Hamas might in theory be ready to transfer power in the Gaza Strip to a new political entity. And, in theory, the PA might be considered as such an entity.
But Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by many, has reacted coolly to al-Sheikh’s appointment.
According to international news agencies, a high-ranking Hamas representative, Bassem Naim, explained that the Palestinians would decide on their leadership independently.
“The Palestinian people are not a herd to be imposed upon leaders with dubious history who have tied their present and future to the occupation”
Israel’s take on al-Sheikh
Israel is also opposed to the prospect of the PA one day ruling the Gaza Strip again and does not trust it, said Fuchs, referring to the case the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Last year, the PA initially confronted the Jenin Brigades, a Palestinian militant group, which had clashed repeatedly with Israeli forces, and then reached an agreement by which the militants were to hand over their weapons. The PA was supposed to have regained control. However, in mid-January, Israel attacked the camp with drones and destroyed houses, stating that it wanted to combat terrorists.
“At the same time, however, the Israeli government made it clear that it did not think much of the PA’s actions and did not take them seriously. In so doing , it has also shown that it ultimately rejects the idea that the PA could rule the Gaza Strip,” Fuchs said. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have conducted several raids into the occupied West Bank this year.
New negotiations unlikely
“It is ultimately doubtful that al-Sheikh’s appointment will have any significant impact on relations between Israel and the PA,” Engelkes said.
“The Palestinian is known in Israeli security circles but Mahmoud Abbas is still in power and the responsibilities of this newly created position have not been assigned,” he said, adding that “it is unlikely that the appointment of a deputy at the present time will lead to new negotiations between the two sides.”
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Sources
Occupied West Bank: Can the PLO’s new deputy bring hope? – DW
Hussain al-Sheikh: Will he succeed Mahmoud Abbas? – Middle East Eye
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints aide as PLO deputy – Al Jazeera
Mahmoud Abbas’s newly anointed deputy to make first diplomatic visit to Saudi Arabia – The Times of Israel
Abbas’s appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh is a ruse – The Jewish Chronicle