(Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named close confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy and likely successor on Saturday, the Palestine Liberation Organization said, a step widely seen as needed to assuage international doubts over Palestinian leadership.
Abbas, 89, has headed the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 but he had for years resisted internal reforms including the naming of a successor.
(Reporting by Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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