President Mahmud Abbas was reelected head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Friday, as the veteran leader seeks to strengthen his control over politics in the occupied West Bank. A four-day meeting of the PLO's parliament, the Palestinian National Council (PNC), which was not attended by Abbas's Islamist rivals Hamas, backed Abbas and selected a new leadership of the PLO's executive committee.
"President Abu Mazen (Abbas) was nominated and unanimously approved as the president of the State of Palestine," senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath told AFP.
"An executive committee was chosen and an executive council was chosen."
The PLO, an umbrella group which is dominated by Abbas's Fatah party and includes most Palestinian factions but not Hamas, represents the Palestinians internationally.
The first regular PNC meeting in 22 years was seen as an opportunity for 82-year-old Abbas to try to increase his legitimacy.
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