Palestinians to vote this week on PLO’s aging leaders

RAMALLAH: 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 convention this week.

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

Instead, some critics – even within the Palestine Liberation Organisation – 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 non-PLO member Hamas 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 pro-Israel Trump administration. Here is a look at what to expect. The PLO was founded in the 1960s 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, it exchanged letters of recognition with Israel in 1993, leading to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, a self-rule government that at first ran Gaza and enclaves in the West Bank.

Starting with an Abbas speech today, the PLO parliament, or Palestinian National Council (PNC), will hold four days of meetings in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Then delegates will elect a new PLO executive committee, the top decision-making body, with 18 members. – AP/African News Agency (ANA)