Palestinian leadership

Extracted Attributes

• UN Status

  Non-member observer state

• Common Name

  Palestinian Authority (PA)

• Headquarters

  Ramallah, West Bank

• Founding Date

  1994-05-04

• Official Name

  Palestinian National Authority (PNA)

• Legislative Body

  Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)

• Current President

  Mahmoud Abbas

• Financial Aid Sources

  European Union and United States (approx. US$1 billion in 2005)

• Diplomatic Recognition

  157 nations (as of September 2025)

• Dominant Political Party

  Fatah

Timeline

• Formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to represent Palestinian interests. (Source: Web Search (Palquest))

  1964-05-28

• Signing of the Oslo I Accord, establishing the framework for Palestinian self-rule. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1993-09-13

• The Palestinian Authority is officially formed pursuant to the Gaza-Jericho Agreement. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1994-05-04

• Mahmoud Abbas is appointed as the first Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2003-03-19

• Death of Yasser Arafat, leading to a transition in leadership. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2004-11-11

• Mahmoud Abbas is elected President of the Palestinian Authority with 62% of the vote. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2005-01-09

• Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections, leading to a suspension of direct Western aid. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2006-01-25

• Hamas takes de facto control of the Gaza Strip, resulting in split administrations between Gaza and the West Bank. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2007-06-14

• Expiration of Mahmoud Abbas's original presidential mandate, leading to legitimacy disputes. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2009-01-09

• The United Nations General Assembly votes to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2012-11-29

• The Palestinian Authority officially begins using the name 'State of Palestine' on official documents. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2013-01-01

Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a consequence of the 1993–1995 Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority controlled the Gaza Strip prior to the Palestinian elections of 2006 and the subsequent Gaza conflict between the Fatah and Hamas parties, when it lost control to Hamas; the PA continues to claim the Gaza Strip, although Hamas exercises de facto control. Since January 2013, following United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19, the Palestinian Authority has used the name "State of Palestine" on official documents, without prejudice to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) role as "representative of the Palestinian people". The Palestinian Authority was formed on 4 May 1994, pursuant to the Gaza–Jericho Agreement between the PLO and the government of Israel, and was intended to be a five-year interim body. Further negotiations were then meant to take place between the two parties regarding its final status. According to the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority was designated to have exclusive control over both security-related and civilian issues in Palestinian urban areas (referred to as "Area A") and only civilian control over Palestinian rural areas ("Area B"). The remainder of the territories, including Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley region and bypass roads between Palestinian communities, were to remain under Israeli control ("Area C"). East Jerusalem was excluded from the Accords. Negotiations with several Israeli governments had resulted in the Authority gaining further control of some areas, but control was then lost in some areas when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) retook several strategic positions during the Second ("Al-Aqsa") Intifada. In 2005, after the Second Intifada, Israel withdrew unilaterally from its settlements in the Gaza Strip, thereby expanding Palestinian Authority control to the entire strip while Israel continued to control the crossing points, airspace, and the waters of the Gaza Strip's coast. In the Palestinian legislative elections on 25 January 2006, Hamas emerged victorious and nominated Ismail Haniyeh as the Authority's prime minister. However, the national unity Palestinian government effectively collapsed, when a violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah erupted, mainly in the Gaza Strip. After the Gaza Strip was taken over by Hamas on 14 June 2007, the Authority's chairman Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led unity government and appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister, dismissing Haniyeh. The move wasn't recognized by Hamas, thus resulting in two separate administrations – the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and a rival Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. The reconciliation process to unite the Palestinian governments achieved some progress over the years, but had failed to produce a re-unification. The Palestinian Authority received financial assistance from the European Union and the United States (approximately US$1 billion combined in 2005). All direct aid was suspended on 7 April 2006, as a result of the Hamas victory in parliamentary elections. Shortly thereafter, aid payments resumed, but were channeled directly to the offices of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Since 9 January 2009, when Mahmoud Abbas' term as president was supposed to have ended and elections were to have been called, Hamas supporters and many in the Gaza Strip have withdrawn recognition for his presidency and instead consider Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, to be the acting president until new elections can be held. The State of Palestine is recognized by 157 nations as of September 2025. In November 2012, the United Nations voted to recognize the State of Palestine as a non-member UN observer state. Widely considered an authoritarian regime, the Palestinian Authority has not held elections in over 15 years. It has been criticized for human rights abuses, including cracking down on journalists, human rights activists, and dissent against its rule.

Web Search Results

• Mahmoud Abbas - Wikipedia

  In December 2009, the leadership of the Palestinian Central Council announced an indefinite extension of Abbas's term as president. Since then, Abbas has remained president of the Fatah-controlled areas of the Palestinian territories. In April 2014, Hamas withdrew its objection, in order to form a Unity Government with Fatah. [...] pressure, on 19 March 2003, Arafat appointed Abbas Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. According to Gilbert Achcar, the United States imposed Abbas on Arafat, the democratically elected leader, though the majority of Palestinians thought of Abbas as a Quisling. [...] By early 2003, as Israel and the United States refused to negotiate with Yasser Arafat, it was thought that Abbas would be a candidate for the kind of leadership role envisaged by both countries. As one of the few remaining founding members of Fatah, he had some degree of credibility within the Palestinian cause, and his candidacy was bolstered by the fact that other high-profile Palestinians were for various reasons not suitable (the most notable, Marwan Barghouti, was a prisoner in Israeli jail after having been convicted on charges of being responsible for multiple murders by an Israeli court). Abbas's reputation as a pragmatist garnered him favor with the West and some members of the Palestinian legislature. Under international pressure, on 19 March 2003, Arafat appointed Abbas Prime

• The Palestinian National Liberation Movement – Fatah (I)

  Through its second in command Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), the Fatah leadership played an important role in the actions and organizing of the Intifada, together with the Palestinian leadership in the occupied territories. This drove the Israeli government to order his assassination in Tunis on 16 April 1988, which made him the latest in a number of prominent Fatah leaders who were assassinated at the hands of the Israeli security services or the Fatah Movement-Revolutionary Council. The list that includes Kamal Adwan, Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, Majed Abu Sharar, Saad Sayil , Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad), and Hayel Abdel-Hamid.

• Palestinian Leadership - Historically Speaking

  A turning point in the Israel/Palestine conflict came in 1993 when President Bill Clinton brokered the Oslo Accords. After months of secret meetings, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat joined Clinton at the White House and agreed to follow UN Resolution 242. Arafat agreed to remove the Israeli destruction from the PLO charter while Rabin agreed to a Palestinian state and pulled out of the West Bank and Gaza. A new organization was formed, the Palestinian National Authority, commonly called Palestinian Authority, as the official government of the Palestinian people to be recognized by Israel. The next year Arafat returned to Palestine after 27 years and by 2002 was elected Chairman of the PA and Fatah became the leading party. [...] chairman as Fatah became the dominant party. With Arafat in charge, the PLO now operating out of Jordan, began attacks on Israel. In 1971, Arafat tried to overthrow the king of Jordan but was defeated and the PLO was kicked out of the country and moved to Lebanon. [...] In 1964, 14 Arab nations met in Egypt to discuss what to do about Israel. Not having an official leader, it was decided that an organization should be created to represent the Palestinian interest and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was born with Ahmad al-Shuqayri as the first chairman. Part of the charter for the PLO was to destroy Israel. The PLO acted as an umbrella organization overseeing the many political groups such as the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but most importantly Fatah. Think of the PLO as a parliament and all the different groups as parties. In 1967, after the Arab states lost to Israel in the Six-Day War, Arafat was elected PLO chairman as Fatah became the dominant party. With Arafat in

• Palestinian Authority - Wikipedia

  The presidential mandate of Mahmoud Abbas expired in 2009 and he is no longer recognised by Hamas, among others, as the legitimate Palestinian president. According to Palestinian documents leaked to Al Jazeera in 2011, the United States has threatened to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority should there be a change in the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. [...] Arafat's administration was criticized for its lack of democracy, widespread corruption among officials, and the division of power among families and numerous governmental agencies with overlapping functions. Both Israel and the US declared they lost trust in Arafat as a partner and refused to negotiate with him, regarding him as linked to terrorism. Arafat denied this, and was visited by other leaders around the world up until his death. However, this began a push for change in the Palestinian leadership. In 2003, Mahmoud Abbas resigned because of lack of support from Israel, the US, and Arafat himself. He won the presidency on 9 January 2005 with 62% of the vote. Former prime minister Ahmed Qureia formed his government on 24 February 2005 to wide international praise because, for the [...] The PLC is an elected body of 132 representatives, which must confirm the Prime Minister upon nomination by the President, and which must approve all government cabinet positions proposed by the Prime Minister. The Judicial Branch has yet to be formalized. The President of the PA is directly elected by the people, and the holder of this position is also considered to be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In an amendment to the Basic Law approved in 2003, the president appoints the Prime Minister who is also chief of the security services in the Palestinian territories. The Prime Minister chooses a cabinet of ministers and runs the government, reporting directly to the President.[citation needed]

• Who Governs the Palestinians? - Council on Foreign Relations

  A failed leadership transition could trigger clashes for power or even the PA’s collapse, which experts say could spell disaster despite the authority’s flaws. “Whatever else one may say about the PA and its complicity in Israel’s colonisation, dispossession and annexation, it provides vital support in the form of jobs and essential services to millions of Palestinians,” the International Crisis Group writes. “A botched succession would thus be harmful for all main players in this conflict, but most of all for Palestinians in the occupied territories themselves.” More on: Palestinian Territories Israel Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Politics and Government Territorial Disputes ## Recommended Resources This UN timeline traces pivotal political developments in Palestinian history. [...] Officially, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) represents Palestinians worldwide at international fora, while the Palestinian Authority (PA), a newer institution led by a PLO faction known as Fatah, is supposed to govern most of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In reality, the PA has overshadowed the PLO, and both are deeply troubled; Israel has exercised significant control over the Palestinian territories, de facto and official; and Gaza has been ruled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which Israel and multiple other countries have designated as a terrorist organization. Palestinian leaders will have to grapple with these and other challenges—including succession concerns and yet another war between Israel and Hamas—to deliver their peoples’ dream of an independent [...] ## What challenges do Palestinian leaders face? Disunity. Political infighting has fractured what was once a fairly unified national movement, precluding Palestinian leaders from negotiating with Israel, organizing elections, and articulating a coherent vision to their supporters. Furthermore, a plurality of Palestinians [PDF] call the Gaza-West Bank split the most damaging development for their people since Israel’s founding, but past reconciliation attempts by Hamas and the PA all failed, and Israel’s new vow to eliminate Hamas has further complicated the issue.