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Palestinian officials vote to create a vice presidency under Mahmoud Abbas
The Palestine Liberation Organization (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 in the occupied West Bank, the PLO’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.
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Why the Palestinian Authority’s Abbas is under pressure to pick a successor?
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), under pressure to appoint a second-in-command to its ageing leader, Mahmoud Abbas, created a vice president position after meeting with senior officials on April 24.
Abbas, who is also president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), promised during an emergency Arab summit in early March that the position would be created. Yet it remains unclear who will eventually fill the post.
The aim is to prevent a power struggle after Abbas vacates his post – a scenario that Israel could exploit to cause the collapse of the PA, fully annex the occupied West Bank and ethnically cleanse Gaza, experts told Al Jazeera.
Yet Diana Buttu, a former legal adviser to the PLO, believes creating a vice president post in the PA will not avert a power struggle once Abbas is gone – rather, it could exacerbate conflict.
