Palestinians vote on aging leaders as Abbas holds grip

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The top-tier leadership group of the

PLO — average age 70 — is up for election for the first time in over two decades, when hundreds of delegates attend a West Bank convention this week.

It should be a chance to revitalize the Palestinian national movement at a historic low point and start talking about potential successors to 83-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.

Instead, some critics — even within the Palestine Liberation Organization — say Abbas is presiding over a staged event to give his increasingly authoritarian rule a veneer of legitimacy. Others challenge the timing, saying the rift with powerful nonPLO member Hamas, which rules Gaza, must be resolved first.

Abbas supporters portray the meeting of the PLO parliament, once envisioned to represent Palestinians everywhere, as a closing of ranks behind Abbas. They say Abbas needs such backing in his political battle with the Trump administration, viewed by most Palestinians as blatantly pro-israel.

The PLO was founded in the mid1960s as an umbrella for Palestinian factions. From the start, it was dominated by the Fatah movement, now headed by Abbas. After promoting armed struggle for decades, the PLO exchanged letters of recognition with Israel in 1993. This led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, a self-rule government that at first ran Gaza and enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

On paper, the PLO remained the “sole legitimate representative” of all Palestinians, recognized by more than 100 countries. Yet power quickly shifted to the Palestinian Authority which, backed by foreign aid, provided services for millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Meanwhile, Fatah steadily lost ground to Hamas, which was founded in the late 1980s. Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 and drove Abbas loyalists from Gaza a year later.