The Palestinian Succession Crisis

May 17, 2023

Also published in Foreign Affairs
Mahmoud Abbas Checking His Watch
About the Authors
Ghaith al-Omari
Ghaith al-Omari

Ghaith al-Omari is a senior fellow in The Washington Institute's Irwin Levy Family Program on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship.

Articles & Testimony

Over nearly two decades, President Abbas has consolidated power and scorned a consensus-based approach to governance, making a smooth eventual leadership handover unlikely.

In 2005, Mahmoud Abbas was elected to a four-year term as president of the Palestinian Authority, filling the vacancy left by the death of Yasir Arafat. Since then, there have been no elections; 18 years later, Abbas is still in office. The PA was established by a 1994 agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Although legally subordinate to the PLO, with powers limited to the West Bank and Gaza, the PA swiftly became the center of gravity in the Palestinian political system...

Read the full article on the Foreign Affairs website.

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