Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that on Saturday the Palestinian Liberation Agency was at a stage where it is widely seen as necessary to ease international doubts about Palestinian leaders, he named his best friend Hussein al-Sheikh his deputy and potential successor.
Abbas, 89, has led the Palestinian Liberation Agency (PLO) and the Palestinian Authorities (PA) since the death of veteran leader Jaser Arafat in 2004, but he has resisted internal reforms, including naming successors, for many years.
Born in 1960, Sheikh is a veteran of Fatah, founded by Arafat and now led by Abbas. He is widely seen as a pragmatist with very close ties to Israel.
He was appointed Vice President of PLO after the organization’s executive committee approved the appointment by Abbas, the PLO said in a statement.
Reforms of the PA, which exercises restricted autonomy in the West Bank under Israeli occupation, is a priority for the US and Gulf monarchies, and they hope that the body will play a central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The pressure for reform has been intensified since the start of the war in Gaza, where the PLO’s major Palestinian rival Hamas has fought Israel for over 18 months, leaving small, crowded territory abandoned.
The United States promoted the idea of a reformed PA governed in postwar Gaza. The Gulf monarchy, considered the most likely source of funding for reconstruction in Gaza after the war, also wants to undergo massive reforms of the body.
Ask Hamas to disarm
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the destruction of Hamas, but it has also been ruled out as well as giving the government a role to the PA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas, following the ideology of extremist Muslims, has been dominating Gaza since 2007, when he defeated the PA in a brief civil war after winning last year’s election. It also has a huge presence on the west bank of the Jordan River.
At the PLO Central Council meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, which confirmed the position of Vice President without naming the appointee, Abbas remained most explicitly called for Hamas to pass on his full arms, arms and the responsibility to rule in Gaza to Pennsylvania.
Wide range of corruption, lack of progress into an independent state, and increased Israeli military invasion in the West Bank, have undermined the PA’s popularity among many Palestinians.
The body has been managed by Fatah since it was formed in the Oslo Agreement with Israel in 1993, and last held a parliamentary election in 2005.
Incarcerated in Israel between 1978 and 89 for his activities against occupation, Sheikh has contacted the Israeli government under Abbas and has served as the main contact of his envoy, PA, on his visit to world powers.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from the syndicate feed.)
