RAMALLAH: Palesti­nian President Mahmud Abbas appointed a close aide as the first ever vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on Saturday, positioning him as a potential successor to the veteran leader.

Hussein al Sheikh was appointed by Abbas, 89, after the vice presidency position was created during a convention held in Ramallah this week.

The creation of the post follows years of international pressure to reform the PLO and comes as Arab and Western powers envision an expanded role for Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) in the governance of the Gaza Strip.

“Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas appointed Hussein al Sheikh as a deputy (vice president) of the PLO leadership,” a member of the organisation’s executive committee, Wasel Abu Yousef, said.

Founded in 1964, the PLO is empowered to negotiate and sign international treaties on behalf of the Palestinian people, while the PA is responsible for governance in parts of the Palestinian territories.

The PLO is an umbrella organisation comprising several Palestinian factions, but not Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Sheikh, 64, is a veteran leader of Abbas’s Fatah movement, which dominates the PA, and is considered close to the president.

He spent more than 10 years in Israeli jails in the late 1970s and early 80s, during which he learned Hebrew.

In 2022, he was made the PLO executive committee’s secretary-general and head of its negotiations department, a sensitive portfolio, demonstrating his close ties to Abbas.

Abbas also recently appointed him as the head of a committee overseeing Palestinian diplomatic missions abroad. Palestinian analyst Hani Al Masri called for the creation of a vice presidential post within the PA itself.

“This is not a reform measure but rather a response to external pressure,” said Masri of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2025