On the evening of April 27th the BBC News website published a report headlined “Qatar claims slight progress towards ceasefire in Gaza”. Credited to BBC News Middle East editor Sebastian Usher and Jessica Rawnsley, that report includes the following two paragraphs:
“On Saturday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas named close confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the PLO said.
Abbas, 89, has led the PLO and PA since 2004 but has previously resisted internal reforms, including naming a successor.”
Notably, readers are not informed that Mahmoud Abbas is currently in the twentieth year of what was supposed to be a five-year term of office.
The BBC’s implication that Hussein al-Sheikh is now Mahmoud Abbas’ “successor” is misleading. Al-Sheikh’s unsurprising April 26th appointment to the role of vice-president of the PLO – which reportedly also affords him the use of the title “vice-president of the State of Palestine” – does not guarantee that he will succeed Abbas should the current Palestinian National Authority president, PLO chairman and Fatah chairman exit the stage, as reported by the Times of Israel:
“If Abbas dies or becomes incapacitated, al-Sheikh would only move into the presidency in a caretaker role. The PLO’s executive committee will ultimately need to choose a permanent successor.
Filled with rivals and other contenders for the presidency, there is no guarantee the committee will line up behind al-Sheikh.”
The ToI’s Palestinian and Arab world correspondent Nurit Yohanan adds:
“Importantly, however, the decree naming al-Sheikh to the post stops short of granting him formal succession powers.”
Remarkably, although over a week has gone by since the publication of Usher and Rawnsley’s report, the BBC News website has yet to provide its readers with any information about Hussein al-Sheikh and his record, which – as noted by Nurit Yohanan and others – includes over a decade of imprisonment for terrorism related offences.
“He joined the Fatah movement as a teenager and spent 11 years in Israeli prison between 1978 and 1989 for his role in a Fatah cell involved in attacks against Israel.
During the First Intifada (1987-1993), al-Sheikh emerged as a mid-level political figure within the Palestinian territories.
In 1993, he was made a lieutenant colonel in the security forces of the newly formed Palestinian Authority, serving in the role for three years before returning to politics.
Al-Sheikh became secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee in 2022, replacing senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who had held the role until his death in 2020.
Perhaps his most prominent role, though, was as the PA’s civil affairs minister, which effectively made him Ramallah’s liaison with Israel — and, by extension, the United States. Fluent in Hebrew, Al-Sheikh held numerous meetings over the years with senior Israeli and American officials.”
MEMRI and PMW provide information on al-Sheikh’s record of glorification of terrorists and support for payments to terrorists and their families. Yohanan also notes al-Sheikh’s unpopularity:
“Should a vote take place, al-Sheikh would face an uphill battle due to a severe lack of public support. His close and longstanding cooperation with Israeli and American officials has led to accusations of collaboration and betrayal on Palestinian social media.
His long tenure overseeing entry permits to Israel for Palestinian workers has also drawn allegations of favoritism and corruption. His name was also linked in the past to sexual harassment claims.”
The BBC’s failure to tell its audiences about the PLO’s new number two is also significant in light of the next sentence in Usher and Rawnsley’s report:
“The PA’s leadership has regularly insisted it is ready to take over running post-war Gaza.”
Journalist and Palestinian affairs analyst Khaled Abu Toameh notes that:
“The appointment of al-Sheikh reportedly came as a result of pressure from the international community on Abbas to reform the Palestinian Authority. According to Reuters, “reform of the PA has been a priority for the US and Gulf monarchies hoping the body can play a central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” […]
The appointment of al-Sheikh needs to be seen in the context of Abbas’s effort to dupe the international community into believing that he is serious about reforming the PA and sharing power.”
With BBC audiences likely to be hearing more in the future on the topic of the ‘reformed’ PA’s aspirations “to take over running post-war Gaza”, it would of course be appropriate for the BBC to set aside its usual practice of providing at best patchy coverage of internal Palestinian affairs in order to report the appointment of the new vice-president of the Palestine Liberation Organisation fully, accurately and impartially.
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