These divisions that undermine the Palestine Liberation Organization

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on May 12, 2021 in Ramallah.

AP - Majdi Mohammed

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is meeting this Sunday and Monday to fill key positions that have been vacant for more than a year… including that of chief Palestinian negotiator, the position that was occupied by Saeb Erekat, deceased in November 2020 after contracting the coronavirus;

and that of spokesperson, occupied until December 2020 by Hanan Ashrawi, until his resignation to call for a rejuvenation of the Palestinian leadership.

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With our correspondent in Ramallah,

Alice Froussard

This Palestinian institution, the PLO, founded in 1964 has lost much importance since the Oslo Accords.

Just like all the Palestinian institutions, which are more and more decried, which are aging, lack legitimacy and representativeness.

Mahmoud Abbas, 86, elected president in 2005 for a term that was due to end in 2009, now concentrates almost all of Palestinian power in his hands.

Calls for his resignation are numerous but the one commonly known as Abu Mazen refuses to retire.

With this new meeting of the PLO, which he therefore still leads, he could put in place the beginning of his succession. 

Candidates for these new positions come from his inner circle.

And all, from his party, Fatah, like Hussein al Sheikh, Minister of Civil Affairs, who could inherit the post occupied by Saeb Erekat.

One thing is certain, it will be difficult to restore confidence.

Regardless of the outcome of the meeting, which risks further increasing the internal Palestinian division.

Many analysts believe that it is above all a question of making people forget the last canceled elections, that it is no longer just a question of a division between Fatah and Hamas, but between Fatah and all the other national factions.

Saturday afternoon, in a letter, former spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi announced that she would not participate.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also said it was boycotting the meeting.

And Hamas, which is not part of the PLO, hastened to denounce “

 a meeting without any legitimacy, far from the national consensus

 ”.

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  • Palestinian territories

  • Mahmoud Abbas