The Palestinian president, addressing Arab leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, said he would restructure the PA. [Getty]
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that he would create a vice-president position in his government, also announcing amnesty to expelled members of his Fatah party at a Cairo summit on Gaza.
Foreign backers of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is based in the West Bank, have long asked for a vice-president to be appointed.
Abbas, 89, has been in power since 2005 following the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The following year he was elected to a four-year term, with no presidential vote since.
The Palestinian president, addressing Arab leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss the post-war reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, said he would restructure the PA.
“We are fully prepared to hold general presidential and legislative elections next year, provided that the appropriate conditions are met in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem,” Abbas said.
The creation of the post of vice president may allay fears of a power vacuum in Abbas’ absence, however it could also allow for the president to bequeath his posts to a successor — a move legal expert Rashad Tawam says would be unconstitutional.
“President Abbas is trying to address a potential power vacuum, but his approach is unconstitutional,” Tawam told The New Arab‘s Arabic-language sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. “The real solution lies in holding elections to restore legitimacy and rebuilding the PLO based on unity and democracy, through elections for both the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Legislative Council. That is the democratic path forward.”
Abbas currently holds at least three posts: Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), President of the Palestinian Authority, and President of the State of Palestine. It is also unclear which of Abbas’ posts will now be joined by a vice president, according to Tawam, though it is likely that he is referring to a personal deputy.
“These positions were acquired through three different sources of legitimacy. By appointing a deputy, Abbas is attempting to pass all these positions (except the leadership of Fatah) to one person,” Tawam said.
On Tuesday, Abbas also announced a general amnesty for dismissed members of the Fatah movement.
The most prominent among of the expelled dissidents who could be affected by the announcement is Mohammed Dahlan, 63, a former Fatah security chief in the Gaza Strip.
Dahlan, excluded from the party after his security forces were forced out of the Palestinian territory by Hamas, is seen as a potential key actor in the post-war governance of Gaza, now ruled by the Fatah’s domestic rival Hamas.
Now based in the UAE, Dahlan has also faced corruption charges.
The native of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis had suggested in 2024 that Arab states should send troops to help keep order in post-war Gaza, where Saudi and UAE money could help fund reconstruction.
