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President of Palestine - Wikipedia

This Wikipedia article details the history and evolution of the position of President of the State of Palestine, highlighting key figures like Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, and the complexities of the title's evolution.

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Head of the State of Palestine

The president of the State of Palestine (Arabic: رئيس دولة فلسطين, romanized: Raʼīs Dawlat Filasṭīn) 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.[3] In November 2008, the PCC approved the continuation of Abbas's function as president of the State of Palestine.[4] Since 2013, the title president of the State of Palestine became the sole title of the Palestinian president.

History

Titular

On 15 November 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization proclaimed the State of Palestine (SoP). Yasser Arafat, the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, assumed the title "President of Palestine". The United Nations recognized the PLO as the "representative of the Palestinian people". The PLO established a Palestinian National Council and a government in exile, both representing the Palestinian people worldwide.

Palestinian Authority

The Oslo Accords established the parallel Palestinian National Authority (PA) and the Palestinian Legislative Council, both representing Palestinians in the Palestinian territories. From 1994, Arafat assumed the title of President of the Palestinian National Authority, which was consolidated by the 1996 Presidential elections. Since then, both functions (President of the SoP and of the PA) were simultaneously performed by a single person.

After 2013

In 2012, the United Nations recognized the "State of Palestine" as non-member observer state, but this did not abolish the function of President of the Palestinian Authority,[citation needed] as this originated from the Oslo Accords.

Election

Unlike the President of the Palestinian Authority, the position of President of the State of Palestine is not validated by democratic elections, but rather by the PLO Central Council. In 1989, the PLO Central Council elected Arafat the first President of the State of Palestine.[5] At the time, the PLO that elected him was led by Arafat himself. After Arafat's death in November 2004, the office was vacant. In May 2005, four months after Abbas was elected President of the Palestinian Authority, the PLO Central Council asked Abbas to act as President of State of Palestine.[3] On 23 November 2008, the PLO Central Council formalized the function by electing Abbas President of the State of Palestine.[4] The PLO organs that appointed Abbas in 2005 and 2008 were and still are led by Abbas himself.

List of presidents (1989–present)

Notes

^ Made President of UN-observer Palestine state on 8 January 2013.[7]
^ Acting until 23 November 2008.[3]

References

^ "Presidential Standard (Palestine)". crwflags.com..
^ "قانون مخصصات وتعويضات رئيس السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية رقم (18) لسنة 2005م". muqtafi.birzeit.edu.
^ a b c d PLO asks Mahmud Abbas to be acting president of "state of Palestine" Archived 19 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Al Jazeera, 8 May 2005
^ a b PLO body elects Abbas ′president of Palestine′, AFP, 23 November 2008
^ a b Tom Lansford,Political Handbook of the World 2014, p. 1628. CQ Press, March 2014. "On April 2, 1989, the PLO's Central Council unanimously elected Arafat president of the self-proclaimed Palestinian state and designated Faruk Qaddumi as foreign minister ..."
^ Aburish, Said K. (1998). From Defender to Dictator. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 201–228. ISBN 1-58234-049-8.
^ "Palestinian Authority rebrands itself 'State of Palestine' after U.N. vote". CNN. 7 January 2013.
^ "PLO body elects Abbas 'president of Palestine'". Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2011., AFP (23 November 2008): "I announce that the PLO Central Council has elected Mahmud Abbas president of the State of Palestine. He takes on this role from this day, November 23, 2008," the body's chairman Salem al-Zaanun told reporters.