UPDATE - Palestinian president to create vice president position, grant amnesty for dismissed Fatah members

ADDS MORE DETAILS, BACKGROUND

By Rania Abu Shamala and Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that he will create a vice president position and issue a general amnesty for all dismissed members of his Fatah movement.

“We have decided to create and appoint a vice president for the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the State of Palestine,” Abbas said at an emergency Arab summit in Egypt on Gaza’s reconstruction.

“In our commitment to the unity of the Fatah movement, we have decided to grant a general amnesty to all dismissed members of Fatah,” he added.

He also reaffirmed readiness to hold general elections—both presidential and legislative—within the next year, provided that conditions allow, covering Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as in previous elections.

He further noted plans to convene the Palestinian Central Council soon, though no specific date was given.

The council, a permanent body derived from the Palestinian National Council, the highest legislative body of the PLO, holds certain delegated powers.

Abbas's decisions follow his “constitutional declaration” in November 2024, which stipulated that the chairman of the Palestinian National Council, currently Rawhi Fattouh, would temporarily assume the presidency in the event of a vacancy.

Nearly 48,400 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 111,000 have been injured in a brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 2023. The assault, which left the enclave in ruins, was paused under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold on Jan. 19.

Israel halted the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Sunday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to start negotiations on the second phase of a ceasefire deal between Tel Aviv and Hamas.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.