Hussein al-Sheikh new PLO secretary general and chief Palestinian negotiator

Hussein al-Sheikh (L) with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, in May 2021. ABBAS MOMANI AFP / File

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In the occupied West Bank, Hussein al-Sheikh joined the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and became the new secretary general and chief negotiator for the Palestinians.

His nomination took place during a meeting, rare, of the members of the central committee of the PLO, boycotted by about twenty of its members, and criticized by his rivals of Hamas.

But the current Palestinian civil affairs minister is not well liked by the Palestinians.

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with our correspondent in Ramallah,

He will fill the position of

, who died in November 2020 after contracting the coronavirus, a position left vacant for more than a year.

In the Israeli press, they speak of him as a gentleman;

among the Palestinians, he is seen as the main “traitor”.

Hussein al-Sheikh, 61, a senior Fatah official and close adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, has headed the Palestinian Authority's General Authority for Civil Affairs since 2007.

He acts as an intermediary with Israel, or with the United States as a fervent defender of the mostly controversial security cooperation between the security forces of the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Security forces of which he was a part, as a colonel, from 1994 to 1997.

Hussein al-Sheikh does not enjoy great popularity.

He alone represents everything the Palestinians hate about their leaders: corruption, the political maneuverings of an old generation, and "collaboration" with Israel.

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: These divisions which undermine the Palestine Liberation Organization

Last January, he met the head of Israeli diplomacy Yaïr Lapid, and attended,

, the Israeli Minister of Defence.

Hussein al-Sheikh was also accused in 2012 of sexual harassment by one of his employees, who filed a complaint despite attempts by the Palestinian Authority to stop him, to hush up the affair.

But with his new position, he thus becomes the number 2 in the Palestinian leadership, after Mahmoud Abbas, the president.

And places himself as his potential successor.

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• Palestinian territories

• Israel

• Israelo-Palestinian conflict