The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO EC; ) is the highest executive body 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), and acts as the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

of the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

.''Abbas confirms resignation from PLO Executive Committee''
. The Middle East Monitor, 24 August 2015
"The Palestinian National Council also empowered the central council to form a government-in-exile when appropriate, and the executive committee to perform the functions of government until such time as a government-in-exile was established."''Status of Palestine in the United Nations''
. UNGA Resolution A/RES/67/19, 29-11-2012
"Taking into consideration that the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in accordance with a decision by the Palestine National Council, is entrusted with the powers and responsibilities of the Provisional Government of the State of Palestine" The EC represents the organization internationally.''PLO vs. PA''
. Passia, September 2014 It represents the Palestinian people, supervises the various PLO bodies, executes the policies and decisions set 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) and the

Palestinian Central Council The Palestinian Central Council (PCC; ), also known as the PLO Central Council, is one of the institutions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PCC makes policy decisions when the Palestinian National Council (PNC) is not in sess ...

, and handles the PLO’s financial issues. The EC meets in the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

or abroad. The head of the EC (executive committee) is the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee (sometimes called President), elected by the PNC.

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 since the death of

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 ...

in November 2004. Executive committee members hold special areas of responsibility, such as military matters, foreign affairs, finance and social affairs, making their role similar to that of ministers in a national government. Besides other functions, the executive committee is involved in the nomination of candidates for the PNC, and when elections to the PNC are not feasible, the executive committee may appoint PNC members.''PLO vs. PA''
. Passia, September 2014

Organization

Ahmad Al-Shuqeiry was the first Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee elected by the Palestinian National Council in 1964, and was succeeded in 1967 by Yahya Hammuda. In February 1969,

was appointed leader of the PLO. He continued to be PLO leader (sometimes called chairman, sometimes president) until his death in November 2004. The EC appointed Mahmoud Abbas chairman within hours of Arafat's death. The

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...

for legitimate decisions is 12 of the 18 members, according to the

Palestinian National Covenant The Palestinian National Covenant or Palestinian National Charter (; transliterated: ''al-Mithaq al-Watani al-Filastini'') is the covenant or charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Covenant is an ideological paper, written ...

, the constitution of the PLO.''Palestinian affairs''
The Daily Middle East Reporter, 25 August 2009.

Members

The executive committee currently has 16 members, elected by the Palestinian National Council, often as representatives of the PLO member factions. The head of the EC is the chairman, who since 2004 has been Mahmoud Abbas. On 27 August 2009, the PNC elected six new members to the EC to replace members who had died (including Yasser Arafat) since the last plenary PNC meeting in 1996. The vote took place in an extraordinary meeting, due to lack of the requisite PNC quorum. Among the six elected were Ahmad Qurei and

Hanan Ashrawi Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi (; born 8 October 1946) is a Palestinian politician, activist, and scholar. Ashrawi began her career at Birzeit University. Beginning in the 1990s, Ashrawi was a member of the PLO's Leadership Committee, serving as t ...

.''PLO picks new leaders at landmark meeting''
AFP, 27 August 2009. Some Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, boycotted the PNC meeting. They called the PLO illegal and illegitimate, because they and other Palestinian factions were not represented in the organization, and was a violation of the

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

agreements and the National Conciliation Document, which envisioned simultaneous elections for the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Authority. On 24 August 2015, Abbas said that he had resigned from the PLO’s executive committee along with ten other members, though their resignations were subject to approval by the Palestinian National Council. The executive committee members who announced their resignation were to continue to hold their positions until the PNC meeting in April 2018.''PNC chair confirms controversial session postponed''
Ma'an News Agency, 9 September 2015 One of them was Asad Abdul Rahman.

Current members

The current members of the Executive Committee as of 7 November 2023 are: #

(

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

) (

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

) # Hussein al-Sheikh (Fatah) (Secretary General) # Azzam al-Ahmad (Fatah) # Ziad Abu Amr (independent) # Faisal Aranaki (

Arab Liberation Front Arab Liberation Front (ALF; ''Jabhet Al-Tahrir Al-'Arabiyah'') is a minor Palestinian political party, previously controlled by the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which it founded in 1969 as its Palestinian military wing. It was based out of Iraq and tr ...

) # Ahmad Abu Houli (independent) # Adnan al-Husayni (independent) # Ramzi Khoury (Fatah) # Ahmed Majdalani ( Popular Struggle Front) # Mohammad Mustafa (independent) # Ramzi Rabah (

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and Maoist organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya (). It is a member ...

) # Saleh Ra'fat (

Palestinian Democratic Union The Palestinian Democratic Union ( ''Al-Ittihad al-Dimuqrati al-Filastini''), generally known as FIDA () is a small Palestinian political party active in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). ...

) # Bassam al-Salhi ( Palestinian People’s Party) # Ahmad Bayyoud Tamimi (independent) # Wasel Abu Yousef (

Palestinian Liberation Front The Palestinian Liberation Front (, PLF), also known as the Palestine Liberation Front - Abu Abbas Faction or Palestine Liberation Front, is a minor left-wing Palestinian political faction. It carried out the Achille Lauro hijacking in 1985. ...

) # Ali Abu Zuhri (independent)

References

External links

PALESTINIAN ORGANISATIONS
al-bab.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Executive Committee Of The Palestine Liberation Organization

Government of Palestine