Saturday 30,Nov,2024 {HMC} Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), has nominated Rawhi Fattouh to take over if he cannot continue in his post due to poor health.
As Israel continued its war on Gaza – killing more than 44,000 people and injuring and starving countless others – criticism of Abbas and his presidency heightened.
Abbas, 89, who also leads the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), was elected president of the PA in 2005, a year after then-leader Yasser Arafat died.
So why is he nominating a successor now and how would the succession process go?
The PA was established as an interim Palestinian government under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed with Arafat.
The PA was originally conceived to administer basic provisions – such as education, security, water and electricity – for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Oslo divided the West Bank into Areas A, B and C, giving the PA security and administrative control over Area A and administrative control over Area B. But Israel routinely conducts violent raids all over the occupied West Bank. Critics say the PA effectively acts as a security apparatus on behalf of the Israeli occupation.
Source Al-jaziira news
