Senior Palestinian officials loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas are meeting to vote on the creation of a vice presidency and could choose a possible successor to the unpopular 89-year-old.
The two-day meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council, beginning Wednesday, comes as Abbas seeks relevance and a role in postwar planning for the Gaza Strip after having been largely sidelined by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
In his opening speech, Abbas lashed out at Hamas, calling the militant group “sons of dogs,” using unusually harsh language in an apparent strategy aimed at garnering international support for a future role in Gaza.
The council is expected to vote on creating the role of vice chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, who would also be referred to as the vice president of the State of Palestine — which the Palestinians hope will one day receive full international recognition.
The expectation is that whoever holds that role would be the front-runner to succeed Abbas — though it’s unclear when or exactly how it would be filled.
The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in less than half of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Abbas’ Fatah dominates both organizations.
Hamas, which won the last national elections in 2006, is not in the PLO. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas’ forces in 2007, and reconciliation attempts between the rivals have repeatedly failed.
Hamas touched off the war in Gaza when its militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 people hostage. Israel responded with an air and ground campaign that has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
Why does succession matter?
Abbas is still seen internationally as the leader of the Palestinians and a partner in any effort to revive the peace process, which ground to a halt when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.
But the chain-smoking political veteran has clung to power since his mandate expired in 2009 and has not named a successor. He has repeatedly postponed elections, citing divisions with Hamas and Israeli restrictions, as polls in recent years have shown plummeting support for him and Fatah.
In his speech opening the PLO meeting, Abbas called on Hamas to release the dozens of hostages it still holds in order to “block Israel’s pretexts” for continuing the war in Gaza. He also called on Hamas to lay down their arms.
Mustapha Barghouti, a veteran Palestinian politician in the West Bank, said Abbas’ harsh words were “inappropriate.”
“This will not create anything except more divisions and more anger within the Palestinian people,” he said.
Abbas, unlike Hamas’ leaders, recognizes Israel and cooperates with it on security matters. He supports a negotiated solution to the conflict that would create a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Western nations have suggested a reformed Palestinian Authority should govern postwar Gaza.
Netanyahu’s government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says Abbas is not truly committed to peace. Netanyahu has also ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and says Israel will maintain security control over the West Bank and Gaza indefinitely.
Why create a vice presidency now?
Creating a vice presidency would provide some clarity about the post-Abbas future, though he is set to maintain tight control over the process.
It comes as the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has made a series of reforms sought by Western and Arab donors, who have demanded changes for the Palestinian Authority to play a role in postwar Gaza. The authority is deeply unpopular and faces long-standing allegations of corruption and poor governance.
Israel has largely dismissed the authority’s latest efforts and has shown no sign of changing its policies, which have the full support of the Trump administration.
What is being decided this week?
The PLO’s Central Council, composed of 180 members from inside and outside the territories, is meeting at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday and Thursday to amend the organization’s bylaws.
They will vote on creating the new position. The Executive Committee, the PLO’s top decision-making body, would then appoint one of its own 16 members through a process that is still being determined.
The main contender appears to be Hussein Al-Sheikh, a close aide to Abbas who was appointed secretary-general of the PLO in 2022. He served for several years as the authority’s main liaison with Israel, developing close ties with senior Israeli officials.
The only other member of the Executive Committee from Abbas’ Fatah party is Azzam Al-Ahmad, who has led past negotiations with Hamas. The others are lesser-known political independents or members of smaller factions.
It’s possible, however, no one will be appointed just yet, even if the position is created.
A presidential decree last year said that if Abbas is unable to carry out his duties, then Rawhi Fattouh, the speaker of the PLO legislature, would lead the Palestinian Authority in a caretaker capacity until elections are held. Fattouh, who has served as a transitional leader before, has little influence or political support.
Who else is a possible successor?
Abbas could potentially open the process to other candidates.
Majed Faraj oversees the Palestinian security and intelligence services. He and Al-Sheikh are widely seen as Abbas’ closest advisers, thought Faraj has adopted a much lower public profile.
Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah leader, has gained some popularity as head of the Palestinian soccer association but has sparked controversy internationally by pushing for sport boycotts of Israel.
Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza security chief who was exiled in 2010 after a bitter falling-out with Abbas, has cultivated close ties with the influential United Arab Emirates, where he serves as an adviser to the ruler. Abbas had accused him of corruption, but a recent amnesty could clear the way for him to return to the Palestinian territories.
Polls consistently show that the most popular Palestinian leader by far is Marwan Barghouti. The senior Fatah leader is currently serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of orchestrating deadly attacks against Israelis during the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s. Israel has ruled out his release as part of any Gaza ceasefire deal.
Palestinians might appoint a vice president to serve under the aging Abbas. Here’s why it matters
https://arab.news/punfk
Palestinians might appoint a vice president to serve under the aging Abbas. Here’s why it matters
- The expectation is that whoever holds that role would be the front-runner to succeed Abbas — though it’s unclear when or exactly how it would be filled
Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir
- Visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s
DUKAN: Water levels at Iraq’s vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing.
Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s.
Dukan Lake has been left three quarters empty, with its director Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq explaining its reserves currently stand at around 1.6 billion cubic meters of water out of a possible seven billion.
That is “about 24 percent” of its capacity, the official said, adding that the level of water in the lake had not been so low in roughly 20 years.
Satellite imagery analyzed by AFP shows the lake’s surface area shrank by 56 percent between the end of May 2019, the last year it was completely full, and the beginning of June 2025.
Tawfeeq blamed climate change and a “shortage of rainfall” explaining that the timing of the rains had also become irregular.
Over the winter season, Tawfeeq said the Dukan region received 220 millimeters (8.7 inches) of rain, compared to a typical 600 millimeters.
Upstream damming of the Little Zab River, which flows through Iran and feeds Dukan, was a secondary cause of the falling water levels, Tawfeeq explained.
Also buffeted by drought, Iran has built dozens of structures on the river to increase its own water reserves.
Baghdad has criticized these kinds of dams, built both by Iran and neighboring Turkiye, accusing them of significantly restricting water flow into Iraq via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Iraq, and its 46 million inhabitants, have been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year-on-year droughts and rampant desertification.
At the end of May, the country’s total water reserves were at their lowest level in 80 years.
On the slopes above Dukan lies the village of Sarsian, where Hussein Khader Sheikhah, 57, was planting a summer crop on a hectare of land.
The farmer said he hoped a short-term summer crop of the kind typically planted in the area for an autumn harvest — cucumbers, melons, chickpeas, sunflower seeds and beans — would help him offset some of the losses over the winter caused by drought.
In winter, in another area near the village, he planted 13 hectares mainly of wheat.
“The harvest failed because of the lack of rain,” he explained, adding that he lost an equivalent of almost $5,700 to the poor yield.
“I can’t make up for the loss of 13 hectares with just one hectare near the river,” he added.
The water shortage at Dukan has affected around four million people downstream in the neighboring Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk governorates, including their access to drinking water.
For more than a month, water treatment plants in Kirkuk have been trying to mitigate a sudden, 40 percent drop in the supplies reaching them, according to local water resource official Zaki Karim.
In a country ravaged by decades of conflict, with crumbling infrastructure and floundering public policies, residents already receive water intermittently.
The latest shortages are forcing even “stricter rationing” and more infrequent water distributions, Karim said.
In addition to going door-to-door to raise awareness about water waste, the authorities were also cracking down on illegal access to the water network.
In the province of roughly two million inhabitants, the aim is to minimize the impact on the provincial capital of Kirkuk.
“If some treatment plants experience supply difficulties, we will ensure that there are no total interruptions, so everyone can receive their share,” Karim said.
Israel military says hit Hezbollah site in south Lebanon
- The military said the site was used by Hezbollah “to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians”
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Saturday its navy hit a Hezbollah “infrastructure site” near the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura, a day after Israel’s foreign minister warned the Lebanese armed group against entering the Iran-Israel war.
“Overnight, an Israeli Navy vessel struck a Hezbollah ‘Radwan Force’ terrorist infrastructure site in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
The military said the site was used by Hezbollah “to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians.”
In a separate statement on Saturday, the military said it had “struck and eliminated” a Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon the previous day, despite an ongoing ceasefire between both sides.
In a statement carried by the official National News Agency, Lebanon’s health ministry said late on Friday that one person was killed in a “strike carried out by an Israeli enemy drone on a motorcycle” in the same south Lebanon village.
The November ceasefire aimed to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which sparked months of deadly hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Lebanon’s army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure as part of the truce, said earlier in June that the Israeli military’s ongoing violations and “refusal to cooperate” with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism “could prompt the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation” on site inspections.
Israeli military kill head of Palestine corps in IRGC’s overseas arm – defense minister
- Veteran commander, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force
- The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the military had killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, in a strike in an apartment in Iran’s Qom.
The veteran commander, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, Katz said in a statement.
There was no confirmation from the IRGC.
The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But Iran-aligned network has suffered major blows over the last two years, as Israeli offensives since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel have weakened both the Palestinian group and Hezbollah.
Katz said Izadi financed and armed Hamas during the initial attacks, describing the commander’s killing as a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force.”
Izadi was sanctioned by the US and Britain over what they said were his ties to Hamas and Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also took part in the October 7 attacks.
Iran’s FM arrives in Istanbul for Arab League meeting
- Around 40 diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
ISTANBUL: Iran’s foreign minister arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, Tasnim news agency reported, for a meeting with Arab League diplomats to discuss Tehran’s escalating conflict with Israel.
Around 40 diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile strikes.
“The Foreign Minister arrived in Istanbul this morning to participate in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ meeting,” Tasnim reported.
It comes after Araghchi met with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday.
“At this meeting, at the suggestion of Iran, the issue of the Zionist regime’s attack on our country will be specifically addressed,” said Iranian foreign Abbas Araghchi, according to the news agency.
Israel began its assault in the early hours of June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran in the worst-ever confrontation between the two arch-rivals.
Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran was ready to “consider diplomacy” again only if Israel’s “aggression is stopped.”
The Arab League ministers are expected to release a statement following their meeting, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu said.
Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks
- Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON: Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear program while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m. in Israel (2330 GMT on Friday), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel’s air defense systems responded.
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Israeli military kill head of Palestine corps in IRGC’s overseas arm – defense minister
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the military had killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, in a strike in an apartment in Iran’s Qom.
The veteran commander, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, Katz said in a statement.
22 arrested for links to Israeli spy services since start of conflict
Police in Iran’s Qom province said Saturday that 22 people “linked to Israeli spy services” had been arrested since June 13, Fars news agency reported.
“22 people were identified and arrested on charges of being linked to the Zionist regime’s spy services, disturbing public opinion, and supporting the criminal regime,” the agency stated, citing the head of police intelligence in Iran’s Qom province.
Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site targeted by Israel
Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site was targeted by Israel, Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Saturday, adding that there was no leakage of hazardous materials.
At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said.
Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts.
There were no initial reports of casualties.
The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-storey residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile.
Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.
Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this.
Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organization that tracks Iran. The dead include the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities.
Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side.
Talks show little progress
Iran has repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around 4 million people and the country’s business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located.
Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US “until Israeli aggression stops”.
But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy.
US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel’s side, enough time “to see whether or not people come to their senses”, he said.
Trump said he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue.
“I think it’s very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire.
“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one,” Trump said.
Hundreds of US citizens have fled Iran since the air war began, according to a US State Department cable seen by Reuters.
Israel’s envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the Security Council on Friday his country would not stop its attacks “until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled”.
Iran’s UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the US might join the war.
Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation.
A senior Iranian official said that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that it would reject any proposal that barred it from enriching uranium completely, “especially now under Israel’s strikes”.
