Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO EC) (Arabic: اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, romanized: al-Lajnah al-Tanfīdhīyah li-Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and acts as the government of the State of Palestine.[1][2][3]

Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
PurposeExecutive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Government of the State of Palestine
Mahmoud Abbas
Membership
16 members
Parent organization
Palestinian National Council
Politics of Palestine
Officeholders whose status is disputed are shown in italics

Arab League Member state of the Arab League

Government
National symbols
Legislative Council
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations
flag Palestine portal

The EC represents the organization internationally.[4] It represents the Palestinian people, supervises the various PLO bodies, executes the policies and decisions set of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) and the Palestinian Central Council, and handles the PLO’s financial issues.[4] The EC meets in the Palestinian territories or abroad.[5] The head of the EC (executive committee) is the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee (sometimes called President), elected by the PNC. Mahmoud Abbas has been the chairman since the death of Yasser Arafat 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.[4]

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, Yasser Arafat 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.[6]

The quorum for legitimate decisions is 12 of the 18 members, according to the Palestinian National Covenant, the constitution of the PLO.[7]

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.[8]

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.[7] Among the six elected were Ahmad Qurei and Hanan Ashrawi.[9] 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,[9] and was a violation of the Cairo and Mecca agreements and the National Conciliation Document, which envisioned simultaneous elections for the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Authority.[10]

On 24 August 2015, Abbas said that he had resigned from the PLO’s executive committee along with ten other members,[1] 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 .[11]

Newly elected members

Newly elected members of the executive committee as at 30 April 2018 are:

  1. Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah)
  2. Azzam al-Ahmad (Fatah)
  3. Taysir Khalid (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine)
  4. Ali Abu Zuhri (independent)
  5. Ahmad Bayyoud Tamimi (independent)
  6. Ahmad Abu Holi (independent)
  7. Faisal Aranaki (Arab Liberation Front)
  8. Saeb Erekat (Fatah)
  9. Ahmed Majdalani (Popular Struggle Front)
  10. Saleh Ra'fat (Palestinian Democratic Union)
  11. Ziad Abu Amr (independent)
  12. Wasel Abu Yousef (Palestinian Liberation Front)
  13. Bassam as-Salhi (Palestinian People’s Party)
  14. Hanan Ashrawi (independent) (until December 2020)
  15. Adnan Al Husseini (independent)

References
  1. Abbas confirms resignation from PLO Executive Committee Archived 2015-09-10 at the Wayback Machine. 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 Archived 2015-10-12 at the Wayback Machine. 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. PLO vs. PA Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. 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 Archived 2012-06-29 at archive.today
  6. Abbas, Mahmud, p.2. Philip Mattar, Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. Infobase Publishing, 2005
  7. Palestinian affairs. The Daily Middle East Reporter, 25 August 2009.
  8. "Executive Committee (EC)". European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. PLO picks new leaders at landmark meeting. AFP, 27 August 2009.
  10. PLO holds poll amid criticism. Al Jazeera, 26 August 2009.
  11. PNC chair confirms controversial session postponed. Ma'an News Agency, 9 September 2015
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