Hussein al-Sheikh chosen as deputy & likely successor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) announced on Saturday that Hussein al-Sheikh has been named deputy, and thus the most likely successor, to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

The appointment of 64-year-old al-Sheikh, a close confidant of Abbas who has been serving as presidential advisor and secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, doesn’t come as a surprise.

The nomination of a deputy came amid Arab and Western pressure on the PA to pursue reforms in the widely unpopular and corrupt organization, which controls Areas A and B in Judea and Samaria and is viewed by some as the only alternative to Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip.

Although his appointment as the 89-year-old Abbas’ deputy significantly boosts his standing in the looming succession struggle, al-Hussein’s new role does not guarantee he will succeed the president.

The PLO is an umbrella organization of Palestinian parties and terror groups, including the Abbas' Fatah party, to which al-Sheikh belongs, the terror group PFLP, and several other, lesser-known factions.

The PLO is responsible for overseeing the PA, which was established with aspirations of becoming the governing body of a future Palestinian state. As a result, al-Sheikh will now also hold the title of “vice president of the State of Palestine.”

Al-Sheikh's appointment was praised by Saudi Arabia, whose Foreign Ministry wished him success and said, “The reforms will strengthen the Palestinian political system and contribute to securing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Hamas, which is not a member of the PLO, but won parliamentary elections in the PA in 2006 before it took over Gaza in a coup, criticized al-Sheikh’s nomination.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the Palestinian people “are not a herd upon which leaders with a questionable history, who tied their past and future to the ‘occupation,’ will be imposed.”

In Israel and the West, al-Sheikh is seen as a pragmatic and cooperative leader. He is responsible for managing the PA’s civilian affairs, including the coordination of visas into Israel, making him one of the primary points of contact between Palestinians and Israeli authorities.

According to media reports, al-Sheikh learned Hebrew while spending 11 years in Israeli prisons for terror-related charges. In addition to other allegations of involvement in terrorism over the years, he has publicly defended the PA’s “pay-for-slay” policy and praised terrorists.

The potential successor to Abbas has spoken about the need to “create a Palestinian national consensus to protect our prisoners and their rights and to defend their dignity. They are our glorious pride and our national honor.”

Only months before Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad carried out their Oct. 7 invasion, al-Sheikh called on all Palestinian national “factions” to establish a broad front against “the Israeli aggression.”

He also expressed hope that the dialogue between the PA and Hamas would succeed, stating that “you have to fight this enemy [Israel] on all fronts, in all arenas, without exception. You have to fight it on the ground and in international organizations and bodies.”

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), stated that in this context, “factions” is a “euphemism referring to the various Palestinian groups, including the murderous terrorists in Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

The report added, “Although he has all the potential credentials to become a Palestinian leader – as a terrorist who served time in Israeli prison, and as the son of a refugee family from Mandate Palestine – al-Sheikh does not enjoy broad Palestinian popularity or support.”

“In polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in preparation for the PA elections that were supposed to be held in 2021 before Abbas canceled them, al-Sheikh’s name was not even mentioned as a potential leader.”