The Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, officially the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is the leader of the

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

(EC) of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO), the executive body of the PLO, which was established in 1964. The Chairman represents the PLO and the

Palestinian people Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous ...

before the international community, including the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. The Chairman is chosen by the members of the PLO EC. Since 29 October 2004,

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

has been the Chairman of the PLO EC.

History

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

was appointed leader of the PLO on 4 February 1969 at the meeting of the

Palestinian National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC; ) is the legislative body - in Arabic, the ''Majlis'' - of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PNC is intended to serve as the parliament that represents all Palestinians inside and outside th ...

(PNC) in Cairo. He continued to be PLO leader (sometimes called Chairman, sometimes President) for 35 years, until his death on 11 November 2004.

was acting Chairman from 29 October 2004 to 11 November 2004, while Arafat was incapacitated, and was Chairman after that date. On 22 August 2015, Mahmoud Abbas announced his resignation as a member and Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee. However, his resignation was conditional on the approval of the PNC,''Purported Abbas resignation from PLO Executive Committee ridiculed as ′silly show′''
Khaled Abu Toameh , Jerusalem Post, 23 August 2015 which was called for 15 September.''Palestinian National Council Scheduled to Convene on September 15th''
. WAFA, 27 August 2015 Many Palestinians saw the move as just an attempt to replace some members in the Executive Committee, or to force a meeting of the PNC and remain in their jobs until the PNC decides whether to accept or to reject their resignations.''Abbas heats up Palestinian politics in PLO reshuffle bid''
. Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta, Reuters, 27 August 2015 The announcement was criticised by many Palestinian factions, as the PNC had not met for nearly 20 years, and had been postponed indefinitely. The Executive Committee members who announced their resignations were to continue to hold their positions until the PNC meets.''PNC chair confirms controversial session postponed''
Ma'an News Agency, 9 September 2015

List of chairmen (1964–present)

Timeline

References

Bibliography

External sources

Official document signed by the "Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization"
Palestine Liberation Organization {{Palestine-stub