The leaders of the Palestinian institutions are the leaders of the organs of the various Palestinian political entities: the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian National Authority, and the State of Palestine.
Sometimes both offices are held by the same person, or one or both of these is held by the same person who is also the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. [4] The reference "President of Palestine" is utilized as short form for these positions. [5]
period | Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization | President of the State of Palestine | President of the Palestinian National Authority | |
West Bank | Gaza Strip | |||
10 June 1964 – 24 December 1967 | Ahmad Shukeiri | |||
24 December 1967 – 2 February 1969 | Yahya Hammuda | |||
2 February 1969 – 2 April 1989 | Yasser Arafat | |||
2 April 1989 [6] – 5 July 1994 | Yasser Arafat | |||
5 July 1994 – 29 October 2004 | Yasser Arafat | |||
29 October 2004 – 11 November 2004 | Mahmoud Abbas (on behalf of Yasser Arafat) | Yasser Arafat (incapacitated by illness) | ||
11 November 2004 – 15 January 2005 | Mahmoud Abbas | vacant | Rawhi Fattouh as Speaker of the PLC | |
15 January 2005 – 8 May 2005 [7] | Mahmoud Abbas | vacant | Mahmoud Abbas | |
8 May 2005 [7] – 23 November 2008 [8] | Mahmoud Abbas | Mahmoud Abbas (on request of the PLO-EC) | Mahmoud Abbas | |
23 November 2008 [8] – 15 January 2009 | Mahmoud Abbas | |||
15 January 2009 – 2 June 2014 | Mahmoud Abbas | Mahmoud Abbas pending elections | Aziz Dweik as Speaker of the PLC | |
2 June 2014 – 17 October 2016 | Mahmoud Abbas | Mahmoud Abbas pending elections | ||
17 October 2016 – Present | Mahmoud Abbas | Mahmoud Abbas pending elections | Aziz Dweik as Speaker of the PLC |
[acting] — [not applicable]
Fatah, formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist and social democratic political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the second-largest party in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, is the chairman of Fatah.
The Palestinian Authority, officially known as the Palestinian National Authority or the State of Palestine, is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a consequence of the 1993–1995 Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority controlled the Gaza Strip prior to the Palestinian elections of 2006 and the subsequent Gaza conflict between the Fatah and Hamas parties, when it lost control to Hamas; the PA continues to claim the Gaza Strip, although Hamas exercises de facto control. Since January 2013, following United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19, the Palestinian Authority has used the name "State of Palestine" on official documents, without prejudice to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) role as "representative of the Palestinian people".
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the Palestinian territories and the diaspora. It is currently represented by the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh.
The history of the State of Palestine describes the creation and evolution of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the British mandate period, numerous plans of partition of Palestine were proposed but without the agreement of all parties. In 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was voted for. The leaders of the Jewish Agency for Palestine accepted parts of the plan, while Arab leaders refused it. This triggered the 1947–1949 Palestine war and led, in 1948, to the establishment of the state of Israel on a part of Mandate Palestine as the Mandate came to an end.
Mahmoud Abbas, also known by the kunya Abu Mazen, is a Palestinian politician who is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). He has been the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 2004, PNA president since January 2005, and State of Palestine president since May 2005. Abbas is also a member of the Fatah party and was elected chairman in 2009.
The government of Palestine is the government of the Palestinian Authority or State of Palestine. The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (EC) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and acts as the government. Since June 2007, there have been two separate administrations in Palestine, one in the West Bank and the other in the Gaza Strip. The government on the West Bank was generally recognised as the Palestinian Authority Government. On the other hand, the government in the Gaza Strip claimed to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian Authority. Until June 2014, when the Palestinian Unity Government was formed, the government in the West Bank was the Fatah-dominated Palestinian government of 2013. In the Gaza Strip, the government was the Hamas government of 2012. Following two Fatah–Hamas Agreements in 2014, on 25 September 2014 Hamas agreed to let the PA Government resume control over the Gaza Strip and its border crossings with Egypt and Israel, but that agreement had broken down by June 2015, after President Abbas said the PA government was unable to operate in the Gaza Strip.
Yasser Abed Rabbo also known by his kunya, Abu Bashar is a Palestinian politician and a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and acts as the government of the State of Palestine.
The Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council is the chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council of the Palestinian Authority. As Chairman, the Speaker acts as interim President of the Palestinian National Authority if the latter is unable to perform his or her duties. Under Palestinian law, the interim President holds the role for sixty days until an election is held.
Aziz Dweik is a Palestinian politician who was elected the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) on 18 January 2006.
The politics of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) take place within the framework of a semi-presidential multi-party republic, with a legislative council, an executive president, and a prime minister leading the cabinet.
The next legislative elections in Palestine have been repeatedly postponed or cancelled. Most recently it was scheduled for 22 May 2021 according to a decree by President Mahmoud Abbas on 15 January 2021, but was indefinitely postponed on 29 April 2021.
The bilateral relations between the State of Palestine and Russia have a complex history, deeply interwoven with Russian and Soviet relations with the Israeli enterprise, Palestinian nationalism, and Third World national liberation movements. Between 1956 and 1990, Soviet–Palestinian relations were part of the then-ongoing Soviet–American confrontation.
The president of the State of Palestine is the head of state of Palestine. Yasser Arafat became the first titular president of the State of Palestine in 1989, one year after the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. The title was originally titular, in parallel with the de facto title president of the Palestinian National Authority. Both functions were held by Arafat from 1994 and continued until his death in November 2004, and were continued by his successor Mahmoud Abbas. In January 2005, the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) asked Abbas to perform the duties of the president of the State of Palestine. In November 2008, the PCC approved the continuation of Abbas's function as president of the State of Palestine. Since 2013, the title president of the State of Palestine became the sole title of the Palestinian president.
The president of the Palestinian National Authority is the highest-ranking political position in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The president appoints the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority, who normally requires approval of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and who shares executive and administrative power with the president.
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 (EC) of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the executive body of the PLO, which was established in 1964. The Chairman represents the PLO and the Palestinian people before the international community, including the United Nations. The Chairman is chosen by the members of the PLO EC. Since 29 October 2004, Mahmoud Abbas has been the Chairman of the PLO EC.
The Fatah Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the Palestinian organization and political party, Fatah.
The Palestinian National Covenant or Palestinian National Charter is the covenant or charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Covenant is an ideological paper, written in the early days of the PLO.
The Palestinian National Council 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 the Palestinian territories, and all sectors of the worldwide Palestinian community, including political parties, popular organizations, resistance movements, and independent figures from all sectors of life.
The Palestinian Cairo Declaration was a declaration signed on 19 March 2005 by twelve Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The Cairo Declaration affirmed the status of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people through the participation in it of all forces and factions according to democratic principles. The Declaration implied a reform of the PLO by the inclusion in the PLO of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.