Jordan welcomes appointment of Palestinian vice president as major ‘reform step’

‘Palestinian President Abbas appoints aide as first-ever PLO vice president’

By JT - Apr 27,2025 - Last updated at Apr 27,2025

This handout photo released by the Palestinian Authority's Press Office shows President Mahmud Abbas (centre) leading prayers next to Palestine Liberation Organisation Secretary General Hussein Al Sheikh (3rd left) during a meeting of the organisation's Executive Committee in Ramallah on Saturday (AFP photo)

AMMAN — The Foreign Ministry has welcomed the appointment of Hussein Al Sheikh as vice president of the State of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as a major step in the “reform and modernisation” endeavor the Palestinian presidency is undertaking.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry’s spokesperson Sufian Qudah voiced the Kingdom’s support to the efforts the Palestinian presidency is exerting to enhance the political work in realising the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, chiefly of which is the establishment of an independent state on the pre 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed a close aide as the first ever vice president of the PLO on Saturday, according to a member of the organisation's executive committee.

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Hussein Al Sheikh as a deputy [vice president] of the PLO leadership," Wasel Abu Yousef said in a statement carried by AFP, in a move that positions Sheikh as a potential successor to veteran leader Abbas.

"Abbas, 89, created the vice presidency position during a convention held in Ramallah this week

It follows years of international pressure to reform the PLO and comes as Arab and Western powers envision an expanded role for Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) in the postwar governance of the Gaza Strip.

Founded in 1964, the PLO is empowered to""negotiate and sign international treaties on behalf of the Palestinian people, while the PA is responsible for governance in parts of the Palestinian territories.

The PLO is an umbrella organisation comprising several Palestinian factions, but not Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are currently at war with Israeli forces in Gaza.

Sheikh, 64, is a veteran leader of Abbas’s Fatah movement, which dominates the PA, and is

considered close to the""president.

Analyst Aref Jaffal said the new role was created to pave the way for someone to take the reins from Abbas, “as there are many things the Palestinian situation requires”.

“The Palestinian political system is already miserable, so I believe that all these arrangements are a prelude to creating a successor to Abbas,” Jaffal, the director of the Al Marsad Election Monitoring

Centre, told AFP."

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