Staff Writer

The 124-member central committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation met on Sunday, February 7^th, to elect new membership to fill seats vacated by, amongst others, former chief negotiator, Saib Erekat and Hanan Ashrawi. Erekat passed away from Covid in 2020, while Ashrawi resigned, calling for new leadership. This was the first meeting in 4 years, and was boycotted by most leftist factions. Moreover, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two of the most popular parties in Gaza and the Westbank aren’t even part of the PLO, and thus supported protests.

The meeting extended the position of Hussein Sheikh, the civil affairs minister, who is likely to be Abbas’s successor.

The PLO and PA has not had elections for the past 16 years, with Abbas’s term expiring in 2009. An election scheduled for last year was postponed, when it was shown that Abbas’s Fatah would be trounced by Hamas.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Motasem Daloul, a journalist based in Gaza argued that the PLO’s choices would be largely beneficial to Israel, especially since most parties with real support were outside the organisation. Daloul also noted the fact that Abbas’s win in 2005 was only because there were no real candidates placed to oppose him.