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Senior Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh has been appointed secretary-general of the Govt Committee of the Palestine Liberation Group, a spokesperson for al-Sheikh stated on Thursday.
A longtime member of the ruling Fatah get together and a high adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, al-Sheikh is considered as considered one of a number of contenders to succeed the 86-year-old chief. His appointment may put him in a major place to take action.
Abbas instantly appointed al-Sheikh to “tackle the duties of the secretary-general,” in keeping with a PA presidential memo issued on Wednesday. Al-Sheikh wasted little time, amending his biography on Twitter so as to add the brand new title of secretary-general as of Thursday afternoon.
For many years, Palestinians considered the Palestine Liberation Group because the standard-bearer of their nationwide motion. Although the PLO has turn out to be largely devoid of energy because the institution of the Palestinian Authority within the mid-Nineties, an appointment to its management nonetheless carries symbolic weight.
The place has been unmanned since former secretary-general Saeb Erekat died of COVID-19 in November 2020.
One in every of Abbas’s closest aides, al-Sheikh has lengthy performed a key position in Palestinian politics. Lately he has taken over numerous diplomatic duties, typically assembly with American and European diplomats and flying to summits in Cairo with the ailing PA chief.
Al-Sheikh additionally enjoys shut ties together with his Israeli counterparts. Together with PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj, al-Sheikh attended each assembly between Abbas and senior Israeli officers over the previous yr.
Saeb Erekat throughout a press convention within the West Financial institution metropolis of Ramallah, September 11, 2018. (AP Photograph/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Al-Sheikh’s Civil Affairs workplace controls the pipeline of coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The bureau exerts large affect over Palestinian each day life, dealing with all the things from prized permits to work in Israel to infrastructure tasks within the West Financial institution.
Nonetheless, Sheikh additionally has little public legitimacy, having by no means been democratically elected to a senior place. He’s additionally disliked by many for his shut ties to Israeli officers and to the unpopular Abbas.
In March, al-Sheikh met with International Minister Yair Lapid. He stated he spoke to Lapid of the necessity for an Israeli-Palestinian peace course of.
“I emphasised to him the necessity for a political horizon based mostly on signed agreements [between Israel and the PA] and worldwide resolutions, in addition to the cessation of unilateral measures that impede a two-state resolution,” al-Sheikh wrote on Twitter then.
Al-Sheikh was first handed a seat on the PLO Govt Committee at a February convention of the group. The confab was largely seen as having been convened by Abbas at hand PLO posts to shut aides, reminiscent of al-Sheikh.
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