Palestinian leader's son wins role in Abbas' party, official says

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - May 17, 2026 09:56 pm IST - RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, accompanied by his son Yasser (R). File. | Photo Credit: Reuters The millionaire businessman son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has won a steering role in his father’s political party Fatah, a party official said on Sunday (May 17, 2026), as a succession fight looms for control of the embattled Palestinian Authority (PA). Yasser Abbas won a seat in elections for the Fatah Central Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, at its first general conference in almost a decade. Mahmoud Abbas (90) will remain chairman, it decided. The PA was set up as an interim administration under the 1990s Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group still internationally recognised as the representative of the Palestinian people. The powerful Fatah party dominates both the PA and the PLO. Mr. Abbas’ son’s foray into politics has fuelled speculation that the president may be seeking to position Mr. Yasser, 64, to succeed him as head of Fatah. That has drawn criticism from some Fatah officials, who say Mr. Yasser would be unable to unify Palestinians or help them chart a new political future after years without national elections or tangible steps toward statehood. In the more than two decades since Mahmoud Abbas was elected to succeed Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, Palestinians have come to view the PA as ineffective and corrupt, something denied by Abbas, who has ruled by decree since his mandate expired in 2009. In 2007, Mr. Abbas’ Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip were overpowered by Hamas militants who seized control of the enclave, a year after Hamas swept the Palestinian parliamentary elections. Peace talks with Israel meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem collapsed in 2014, with expanding Israeli settlements since carving up areas slated for Palestinian statehood. The PA is also grappling with a financial crisis. Yasser Abbas, who has never held an official role within Fatah or the PA, runs tobacco and contracting firms in the parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where the PA exercises limited self rule. Critics have long alleged that he and his brother Tarek have used public funds to help their businesses, allegations both men reject. Among others to have won seats on the Central Committee are Majed Faraj, head of the General Intelligence Agency, and former militant group leader Zakaria Zubeidi, released in a Hamas-Israel prisoner-hostage exchange as part of a 2025 Gaza ceasefire. Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Palestinian leader's son wins role in Abbas' party, official says

Key takeaways

Also covered by

Palestinian leader's son wins role in Abbas' party, official says

Key takeaways

Also covered by

More in international