RAMALLAH, May 5 (Reuters) – The millionaire businessman son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to run for a steering role in his 90-year-old father’s political party, sources say, as a succession fight looms for control of the embattled Palestinian Authority.
Yasser Abbas runs tobacco and contracting firms in the parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where the PA exercises limited self rule. His critics have long accused him and his brother Tarek, also a businessman, of using public funds to fuel their businesses, allegations both men reject.
His foray into politics has fuelled widespread speculation within the Palestinian Territories that Mahmoud Abbas may be seeking to position Yasser, 64, to succeed him as head of his powerful Fatah party that controls the PA.
That has drawn criticism from some Fatah officials, who say that Yasser Abbas would be unable to unify Palestinians or help them chart a new political future after years without any national elections or tangible steps toward statehood.
ABBAS’ SON TO SEEK SEAT ON FATAH CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Yasser Abbas is expected to seek one of 18 seats on Fatah’s Central Committee that are being contested during a party conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah from May 14-16, its first such gathering in almost 10 years, sources familiar with his plans said.
In recent weeks, Yasser Abbas has held meetings with party factions representing the PA’s security establishment as well as groups representing prisoners held by Israel, an influential constituency whose support could bolster him when Fatah’s estimated 2,500 voting members cast ballots for the committee.
He has long joined his father in political meetings, including on a visit to Moscow last year when they met President Vladimir Putin and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Last year, his father asked him to lead Lebanon affairs for the Palestine Liberation Organization, overseeing weapons handovers by Palestinian militants to the Lebanese army.
Yasser Abbas, who has never held an official role within Fatah or the PA, declined to be interviewed for this story.
Mahmoud Abbas’ office and spokespeople for the longtime PA leader declined requests for comment on whether he was seeking for his son to succeed him in leading Fatah or the PA.
Sabri Saidam, who was elected to the Central Committee during the last Fatah conference in 2016, said the party had democratic bylaws that allow any member meeting requirements to run for the body.
“I hope to see a renewal in leadership and a renewal in the movement’s capabilities, safeguarding for a future stage that is clearly more complex and difficult,” Saidam said.
SUCCESSION FIGHT FOR CONTROL OF PA
The PA was set up as an interim administration under the 1990s Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group still internationally recognised as the representative of the Palestinian people.
In the more than two decades since Mahmoud Abbas was elected as the successor to the charismatic Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, the PA’s public standing has sunk among Palestinians, who have grown to view it as ineffective and corrupt.
In 2007, the PA was driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants, who had won an election there on an anti-corruption platform. No Palestinian leadership elections have been held since, and Abbas has ruled by decree since his mandate expired in 2009.
A peace process meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem collapsed in 2014, and expanding Israeli settlements have since carved up areas once slated for eventual Palestinian control.
The PA has also been battered by a severe financial crisis, intensified by sharp cuts in U.S. and Gulf donor aid and a refusal by Israel to release Palestinian tax money in a dispute over payments the PA makes to prisoners jailed by Israel for deadly attacks.
The entry into politics of Yasser Abbas further expands a succession fight for control of both the PA and the PLO.
Those viewed as possible successors to Mahmoud Abbas include Hussein Al Sheikh, his longtime confidant and vice president of the PLO. They also include Marwan Barghouti, a leader of two intifadas, or uprisings, against Israel from 1987-1993 and in the early 2000s, who enjoys great popularity among Palestinians despite being jailed by Israel since 2002 over charges including murder.
YASSER ABBAS DRAWS CRITICISM WITHIN FATAH
One Fatah leader described Yasser Abbas’ potential role on the Central Committee as “the beginning” and said he would eventually seek a role on the PLO’s top Executive Committee, giving him sway over the umbrella group.
“This seems to be what Yasser Abbas is being prepared for,” said the Fatah leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But critics within Fatah say the elevation of Yasser Abbas, who controls one of the West Bank’s main cigarette importers, could further entrench distrust among Palestinians with their government after years without national elections.
“Abbas is trying to make holes in the Fatah ship before (his death) by installing his son as heir to the crown. This should be confronted and rejected by all Fatah men,” said another senior Fatah official, also on condition of anonymity.
Reham Owda, a Palestinian political analyst, said that while Abbas may be able to help promote his son within Fatah, there is no guarantee that holding a position within the party would translate into success at the polls if and when elections are held.
“This does not resolve the frustration of the Palestinian people, as no democratic elections have taken place since 2006; rather, it increases frustration, since the public is looking forward to democratic elections, legislative and presidential elections,” Owda said.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Rami AyyubEditing by Peter Graff)
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