Possible Successor to Abbas Warns Israel, but Works with It

Newly appointed secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, Hussein al-Sheikh gives an interview to The Associate Press, at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP)

Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official increasingly seen as a successor to the 86-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, says relations with Israel have gotten so bad that Palestinian leaders cannot go on with business as usual.

But even if they are serious this time around, they have few options. And they appear unlikely to do anything that undermines their own limited power in parts of the occupied West Bank, which largely stems from their willingness to cooperate with Israel.