Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the PLO Hussein al-Sheikh at a meeting in Amman, Jordan, November 4, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
Published December 17, 2023
Hussein al-Sheikh, seen as potential successor to Mahmoud Abbas, says ‘after all this [killing],’ there must be a ‘serious, honest and responsible assessment’ of Palestinian cause
A senior Palestinian Authority official appeared to express criticism of Hamas for employing terrorism against Israel, saying the terror group needs to reconsider its approach following the ongoing war.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA civil affairs minister and the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, made his comments in an interview with Reuters published Sunday, as US officials have sought to paint the PA as a potential ruling body over the Gaza Strip after the war, while Israeli officials have dismissed any such possibility.
Speaking to Reuters in Ramallah, al-Sheikh suggested that the methods employed by Palestinians in pursuit of statehood until now have failed to bear fruit.
“It is not acceptable for some to believe that their method and approach in managing the conflict with Israel was the ideal and the best,” al-Sheikh said. “After all this [killing] and after everything that’s happening, isn’t it worth making a serious, honest and responsible assessment to protect our people and our Palestinian cause?”
“Isn’t it worth discussing how to manage this conflict with the Israeli occupation?” he added.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
RELATED: U.S. wants overhauled Palestinian Authority to run Gaza after Hamas
Smoke rises from damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Washington has appealed to Jordan, Egypt and Gulf states to persuade Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to pursue institutional reforms with urgency to prepare for post-war Gaza. | REUTERS
Published December 18, 2023
A succession of top U.S. officials have traveled to the West Bank in recent weeks to meet with Mahmoud Abbas in the hope the 88-year-old — a spectator in the war between Israel and Hamas — can overhaul his unpopular Palestinian Authority enough to run the Gaza Strip after the conflict.
An architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel that raised hopes of Palestinian statehood, Abbas has seen his legitimacy steadily undermined by Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, which he oversees. Many Palestinians now regard his administration as corrupt, undemocratic and out of touch.
But in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, U.S. President Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants to see a revitalized Palestinian Authority — which Abbas has run since 2005 — take charge in Gaza once the conflict is over, unifying its administration with that of the West Bank.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, met with Abbas on Friday, becoming the latest senior U.S. official to urge him to implement rapid change. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after meeting the Palestinian leader in late November that they discussed the need for reforms to combat corruption, empower civil society and support a free press.
Three Palestinian and one senior regional official briefed on the conversations said that Washington’s proposals behind closed doors would also involve Abbas ceding some of his control over the authority.
Under the proposals that have been floated, Abbas could appoint a deputy, hand broader executive powers to his prime minister, and introduce new figures into the leadership of the organization, the Palestinian and regional sources said.
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SOURCE: www.japantimes.co.jp
RELATED: Palestinians must find new path from Israeli rule after war, top official says
Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary General of the Executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad Acquire Licensing Rights
Published December 17, 2023
RAMALLAH, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Immediately after Israel’s war in Gaza ends, all Palestinian factions including Hamas must take a serious look at the failure of their policies to achieve freedom for their people, a top Palestinian Authority official said.
Hussein al-Sheikh, 63, said war in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel meant Hamas should make a “serious and honest assessment and reconsider all its policies and all its methods” once fighting subsides.
Hamas’ attacks killed 1,200 Israelis, triggering a relentless bombardment and ground war that has killed at least 19,000 Palestinians, displaced hundreds of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Sheikh, the general secretary of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Liberation Organization, is seen by some as a potential successor. His comments were the first time a senior PLO leader has talked publicly about Hamas tactics since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Sheikh also acknowledged the political path under Oslo peace accords was faltering and as it currently stands would not achieve the ambition of the Palestinian people for the establishment of a Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders.
Sheikh and Abbas met senior White House aide Jake Sullivan in Ramallah on Friday. The Palestinians told him a new international effort was needed to persuade Israel of a comprehensive solution that includes the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, Sheikh told Reuters.
“There must be a single Palestinian government governing the Palestinian homeland,” Sheikh told Reuters on Saturday in a rare interview in sleek offices adorned with portraits Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
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SOURCE: www.reuters.com
