Top Abbas aide al-Sheikh elected first-ever deputy head of the PLO

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the organization’s senior and most limited body, announces the appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh, currently serving as the Secretary-General of the Executive Committee, as deputy head of the PLO.

This marks the first time there has been a deputy to the head of the organization, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Al-Sheikh, a top aide to Abbas, previously served as the civil affairs minister on behalf of the PA and is known for his ties with Israel and the United States.

His election as deputy may strengthen his position in the succession battle for control over the PA after Abbas’s death.

The Palestine Liberation Organization is the international representative body for the Palestinians. The PLO formed the Palestinian Authority during the Oslo Accords agreements with Israel in the 1990s, envisioning it as a transitional governing body for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza ahead of the establishment of a sovereign state alongside Israel.

The two bodies have become increasingly synonymous over the past two decades, since they are both headed by Mahmoud Abbas and dominated by his secular nationalist Fatah party.