Palestinian chief Abbas appoints Hussein Al-Sheikh as a deputy in the middle of inheritance fears

Palestinian leaders in the West Bank occupied by Israeli met this week for the first rally of the genre for years. Their mission: to allow Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the aging Palestinian authority, to appoint a long -standing loyalist to a newly created senior position.

On Saturday evening, Mr. Abbas officially appointed Hussein Al-Sheikh, a close confidant, like his assistant. Some analysts thought that the promotion of Mr. Al-Sheikh said that Mr. Abbas, 89, reported that Mr. Al-Sheikh was his favorite heir, while others saw him as a cosmetic reshuffle to appease Arab officials frustrated by the Palestinian chief.

For many Palestinians, their leadership focuses on the policy of the palace while the war in Gaza raged, and a radical Israeli military operation in the north of the West Bank has moved tens of thousands of people, has further stressed the complacency of the Palestinian Authority supported by the West.

“The ship flows, and everyone is fighting for who will be seated at which table,” said Ghaith Al-Mari, former advisor to Mr. Abbas and principal researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research group.

More than 50,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israel campaign against Hamas in Gaza, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war began with the attack on October 7, 2023 of Hamas against southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.

The war threw a projector on the Palestinian cause and stimulated global demonstrations. But the fragile and divided Palestinian Authority internally – the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinians – fought for relevance.