The Palestine Liberation Organization promotes two officials close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to its highest-ranking body, the Executive Committee, official PA media reports.
Hussein al-Sheikh, once of Abbas’s closest advisers, takes the position vacated by the late former PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat. Al-Sheikh is one of the most powerful and controversial politicians in the West Bank; he is widely seen as one of the two officials closest to the aging Palestinian leader.
Erekat was widely known as the point person for peace talks and diplomatic initiatives vis-a-vis the US and Israel, though it is not yet clear whether al-Sheikh will fill that role for Abbas.
In addition, Abbas’s longtime chief economic adviser, Mohammad Mustafa, will fill the seat left by former PLO spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi. Ashrawi quit the council last year and has since emerged as a prominent Abbas critic.
The appointments take place during the convention of the PLO’s Central Committee, which has gathered to fill key leadership roles in the largely symbolic PLO.
Several Palestinian factions boycott the proceedings, accusing Abbas of seeking to further consolidate power in the PLO by packing the body with loyalists.
Executive Committee member Tayseer Khalid, who resigned during the conference, is replaced by Farid Sarou.
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