83-year-old Palestinian chief Abbas stays unchallenged PLO leader
The door opened to a possible path of succession but Abbas has blocked any discussion about what will happen when he leaves politics.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has affirmed 83-year-old Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas as its unchallenged leader.
It also gave new powers to a decision-making body stacked with his loyalists and pushed out remaining dissenters in a carefully staged four-day convention that ended on Friday.
The decisions by the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) also opened the door to a possible path of succession, though Abbas has blocked any discussion about what will happen when he leaves politics.
The session of the PLO parliament — meant to represent Palestinians everywhere — cemented the shift of power to the West Bank-based Mr Abbas and his circle.
Critics say in the absence of general elections, the PLO serves largely to lend political legitimacy to Mr Abbas’ increasingly authoritarian rule over autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The parliament, or Palestinian National Council, also issued a series of political resolutions that – while seemingly dramatic – are unlikely to have a major impact.
The council said it has instructed another PLO leadership body to suspend recognition of Israel and declared that it is no longer bound by obligations stemming from interim peace deals with Israel.
Despite such declarations, Mr Abbas and the PLO leadership have stopped short of ending the current, practical relationship with Israel – security coordination in the West Bank against a shared foe, the Islamic militant Hamas.
The PLO parliament met during a particularly low point for Mr Abbas and his elusive goal of negotiating the terms of Palestinian statehood with Israel.
The political camp led by Mr Abbas seeks a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Prospects for resuming negotiations with Israel after a decade of diplomatic paralysis are close to zero – at a time when Israel’s government and the Trump administration pursues policies Mr Abbas considers deal breakers.
At the same time, his bitter rivalry with Hamas has flared up again in recent weeks, making Palestinian reconciliation extremely unlikely.
Hamas is not a member of the PLO, which was founded in the 1960s and was later recognised by dozens of countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians.
In theory, the PLO still plays that role, though actual power has shifted to the West Bank autonomy government, or Palestinian Authority. Mr Abbas is head of both.
In its final session this week, the PLO parliament decided to delegate its powers to the mainly West Bank-based PLO Central Council, the closing statement said.
The parliament’s main function has been to elect the top-tier decision-making body, the PLO Executive Committee. It did so this week, choosing a 15-member body.
From now on, the smaller Central Council which is stacked with Abbas loyalists can take over that role.
The Central Council’s new powers of filling any vacancies in the PLO Executive Committee — including as a result of death or illness — could open a possible path to succession.
Mr Abbas was re-elected as the head of the PLO Executive Committee this week.
Under the old rules, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament elected in the Palestinian territories, takes over temporarily until elections are held.
For Mr Abbas’ Fatah movement, this stopped being an option after rival Hamas won parliament elections and with it the role of speaker in 2006.
In this week’s session, the PLO parliament also endorsed Mr Abbas’ current political positions.
Among other things, it rejected the idea of a Palestinian state within provisional borders.
Palestinians fear such a “mini-state” will be the core of the Trump administration’s eventual proposal for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
