RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA: A key Palestinian decision-making body convenes on Sunday for the first time in nearly four years in a session that could be a stepping stone for two potential successors to 86-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Central Council last met in 2018, hampered by internal divisions among Palestinians. Hamas and Islamist Jihad movements turned down an invitation to attend Sunday’s meeting, saying Abbas had to institute power-sharing reforms first.
Abbas heads the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His main rival, Hamas, runs the Gaza Strip, also an Islamic Jihad stronghold.
The elderly leader, who has a history of heart problems, has not proposed a successor. Both Islamic groups have accused Abbas, who hasn’t held a presidential election since 2005, of not doing enough to heal Palestinian divides which are holding up a ballot. Abbas blames Hamas for the current split.
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