Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization

State of Palestine
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Officeholders whose status is disputed are shown in italics

The Executive Committee (PLO EC) (Arabic: اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية‎‎) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the government of the State of Palestine.[1][2][3] It has been chaired by Mahmoud Abbas since November 2004.

The EC represents the organization internationally.[4] It represents the Palestinian people, supervises the various PLO bodies, executes the policies and decisions set out by the PNC, and handles the PLO’s financial issues.[4] It meets abroad and in the Palestinian territories.[5]

The 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.

Organization

The Executive Committee has 18 members, elected by the Palestinian National Council (PNC), often as representatives of the PLO member factions. As of 2015, the EC was headed by Mahmud Abbas, who succeeded Yasser Arafat. The EC appointed Abbas Chairman within hours after Arafat's death in 2004.[6] The quorum for legitimate decisions is twelve, according to the Constitution of the PLO.[7]

Members

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 PNC quorum.[7] Among the six elected were Ahmad Qurei and Hanan Ashrawi.[8] Some Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, boycotted the meeting. They called the PLO illegal and illegitimate, because they and other Palestinian factions were not represented in the organization,[8] and was a violation of the Cairo and Mecca agreements and the national reconciliation document, which envisioned simultaneous elections for the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Authority.[9]

Earlier elected members

Earlier elected members of the Executive Committee are:

  1. Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah)
  2. Farouk Kaddoumi (Fatah)
  3. Mohammed Zuhdi al-Nashashibi
  4. Yasser Abed Rabbo
  5. Abdel Rahim Mallouh
  6. Taysir Khalid (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) until 1993
  7. Ali Ishaq
  8. Mahmoud Ismail (Arab Liberation Front)
  9. As'ad Abdel Rahman
  10. Ghassan Shakaa (Mayor of Nablus)
  11. Zakaria al-Agha (Fatah)
  12. Riya al-Khudri
  13. Saeb Erekat
  14. Ahmed Majdalani
  15. Salih Raafat
  16. Ziad Amr
  17. Ahmad Qurei
  18. Hanna Amira
  19. Dr. Hanan Ashrawi

See also

References

  1. ↑ Abbas confirms resignation from PهLO Executive Committee. The Middle East Monitor, 24 August 2015
  2. ↑ Sayigh, Yezid (1999). Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949–1993 (illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 624. ISBN 9780198296430.
    "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."
  3. ↑ 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"
  4. 1 2 PLO vs. PA. Passia, September 2014
  5. ↑ The PLO Executive Committee is to hold a meeting on issues related to the Middle East peace process here Saturday, Palestinian Permanent Delegate to the Cairo-based Arab League Mohamed Sobeih said today.
    Palestinian President Abbas attends a PLO executive committee meeting in Ramallah
  6. ↑ Abbas, Mahmud, p.2. Philip Mattar, Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. Infobase Publishing, 2005
  7. 1 2 Palestinian affairs. The Daily Middle East Reporter, 25 August 2009.
  8. 1 2 PLO picks new leaders at landmark meeting. AFP, 27 August 2009.
  9. ↑ PLO holds poll amid criticism. Al Jazeera, 26 August 2009.
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