President of Palestine

{{Short description|Head of state of Palestine}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox official post | post = President | body = the State of Palestine | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|رئيس دولة فلسطين}} | insignia = Presidential Emblem of Palestine.svg | insigniasize = 100px | insigniacaption = Presidential Emblem | flag = Presidential Standard of Palestine.svg | flagsize = 155px | flagborder = | flagcaption = Presidential standard<ref>{{cite web|title=Presidential Standard (Palestine)|url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ps%5Epresi.html|website=crwflags.com}}.</ref> | image = Mahmoud Abbas 2024.jpg | incumbent = Mahmoud Abbas | acting = | incumbentsince = 15 January 2005 | style = His Excellency | type = {{ubl|Head of state|Commander-in-chief}} | status = | abbreviation = | member_of = | reports_to = | residence = Presidential Palace, Ramallah | seat = | nominator = | appointer = | appointer_qualified = | termlength = Four years, | termlength_qualified = renewable indefinitely | constituting_instrument = Constitution of Palestine<br>(2003) | precursor = | inaugural = Yasser Arafat | formation = {{start date|1989|4|2|df=yes}} | last = | abolished = | succession = | unofficial_names = | deputy = Vice President | salary = US$120,000 annually<ref>{{cite web|url=http://muqtafi.birzeit.edu/pg/getleg.asp?id=15062|title=قانون مخصصات وتعويضات رئيس السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية رقم (18) لسنة 2005م|website=muqtafi.birzeit.edu}}</ref> | website = {{url|https://www.mofa.pna.ps/en-us/Palestine/President|State of Palestine, President}} }}

{{Politics of Palestine}} The '''president of the State of Palestine''' ({{langx|ar| رئيس دولة فلسطين|translit=Raʼīs Dawlat Filasṭīn}}) is the head of state of Palestine. Yasser Arafat became the first titular president of the State of Palestine in 1989, one year after the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. The title was originally titular, in parallel with the de facto title president of the Palestinian National Authority. Both functions were held by Arafat from 1994 and continued until his death in November 2004, and were continued by his successor Mahmoud Abbas. In January 2005, the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) asked Abbas to perform the duties of the president of the State of Palestine.<ref name="acting_2005"/> In November 2008, the PCC approved the continuation of Abbas's function as president of the State of Palestine.<ref name=abbas_president>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110608080641/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data%2Fmiddleeast%2F2008%2FNovember%2Fmiddleeast_November480.xml&section=middleeast ''PLO body elects Abbas ′president of Palestine′''], AFP, 23 November 2008</ref> Since 2013, the title president of the State of Palestine became the sole title of the Palestinian president.

==History==

===Titular=== On 15 November 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization proclaimed the State of Palestine (SoP). Yasser Arafat, the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, assumed the title "President of Palestine". The United Nations recognized the PLO as the "representative of the Palestinian people". The PLO established a Palestinian National Council and a government in exile, both representing the Palestinian people worldwide.

===Palestinian Authority=== The Oslo Accords established the parallel Palestinian National Authority (PA) and the Palestinian Legislative Council, both representing Palestinians in the Palestinian territories. From 1994, Arafat assumed the title of President of the Palestinian National Authority, which was consolidated by the 1996 Presidential elections. Since then, both functions (President of the SoP and of the PA) were simultaneously performed by a single person.

===After 2013=== In 2012, the United Nations recognized the "State of Palestine" as non-member observer state, but this did not abolish the function of President of the Palestinian Authority,{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} as this originated from the Oslo Accords.

==Election== Unlike the President of the Palestinian Authority, the position of President of the State of Palestine is not validated by democratic elections, but rather by the PLO Central Council. In 1989, the PLO Central Council elected Arafat the first President of the State of Palestine.<ref name=lansford_p1628>Tom Lansford,[https://books.google.com/books?id=iC_VBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1628 ''Political Handbook of the World 2014''], p. 1628. CQ Press, March 2014.<br /> "On April 2, 1989, the PLO's Central Council unanimously elected Arafat president of the self-proclaimed Palestinian state and designated Faruk Qaddumi as foreign minister ..."</ref> At the time, the PLO that elected him was led by Arafat himself. After Arafat's death in November 2004, the office was vacant. In May 2005, four months after Abbas was elected President of the Palestinian Authority, the PLO Central Council asked Abbas to act as President of State of Palestine.<ref name="acting_2005"/> On 23 November 2008, the PLO Central Council formalized the function by electing Abbas President of the State of Palestine.<ref name=abbas_president/> The PLO organs that appointed Abbas in 2005 and 2008 were and still are led by Abbas himself.

==List of presidents (1989–present)== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! rowspan=2| {{abbr|No.|Number}} ! rowspan=2| Portrait ! rowspan=2| Name<br>{{small|(Birth–Death)}} ! colspan=3| Term ! rowspan=2| Political party ! rowspan=2| Election ! rowspan=2| Ref. |- ! Took office ! Left office ! Duration {{Officeholder table | order2 = 1 | image = Leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, 1996 Dan Hadani Archive.jpg | officeholder = Yasser Arafat | born_year = 1929 | died_year = 2004 | died = y | term_start = 2 April 1989 | term_end = 11 November 2004 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|1989|04|02|2004|11|11}} | alt_party = Fatah | election = 1996 | ref = <ref name=lansford_p1628/><ref name="Intifada">{{cite book |last=Aburish |first=Said K. |author-link=Said K. Aburish |title=From Defender to Dictator |year=1998 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |pages=201–228 |location=New York |isbn=1-58234-049-8 }}</ref> }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = – | image = | officeholder = Rawhi Fattouh | born_year = 1948 | died_year = | term_start = 11 November 2004 | term_end = 15 January 2005 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|2004|11|11|2005|01|15}} | acting = y | alt_party = Fatah | election = {{endash}} | ref = {{endash}} }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 2 | image = Mahmoud Abbas 2024.jpg | officeholder = Mahmoud Abbas | officeholder_note = {{efn|Made President of UN-observer Palestine state on 8 January 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/07/world/meast/palestinian-name-change/index.html|title=Palestinian Authority rebrands itself 'State of Palestine' after U.N. vote|date=7 January 2013|website=CNN}}</ref>}}{{efn|Acting until 23 November 2008.<ref name="acting_2005">[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=109F7CBE1E96DFA4&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM ''PLO asks Mahmud Abbas to be acting president of "state of Palestine"''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219081414/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=109F7CBE1E96DFA4&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=19 December 2013 }}, Al Jazeera, 8 May 2005</ref>}} | born_year = 1935 | died_year = | term_start = 15 January 2005 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|2005|1|15}} | alt_party = Fatah | election = 2005 | ref = <ref name="acting_2005"/><ref name="p2008">{{cite web|url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data%2Fmiddleeast%2F2008%2FNovember%2Fmiddleeast_November480.xml&section=middleeast |title=PLO body elects Abbas 'president of Palestine' |access-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608080641/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data%2Fmiddleeast%2F2008%2FNovember%2Fmiddleeast_November480.xml&section=middleeast |archive-date=8 June 2011 }}, AFP (23 November 2008): "I announce that the PLO Central Council has elected Mahmud Abbas president of the State of Palestine. He takes on this role from this day, November 23, 2008," the body's chairman Salem al-Zaanun told reporters.</ref> }} |}

==Timeline== {{#tag:timeline| ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:150 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}}

Colors = id:fatah value:rgb(0.95,0.72,0.22) legend:Palestinian_National_Liberation_Movement id:gray1 value:gray(0.85) id:gray2 value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1989 till:$today TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1989 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1989

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170 TextData = pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Political party:"

BarData = bar:Arafat bar:Fattouh bar:Abbas PlotData = width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Arafat from: 02/04/1989 till: 11/11/2004 color:fatah text:"Yasser Arafat" bar:Fattouh from: 11/11/2004 till: 15/01/2005 color:fatah text:"Rawhi Fattouh (acting)" bar:Abbas from: 15/01/2005 till: $today color:fatah text:"Mahmoud Abbas"

}}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20151208074448/http://www.president.ps/eng/Default.aspx Palestinian President Office] (English) * [http://president.ps/ Palestinian President Office] (Arabic)

Category:Presidents of Palestine Category:Government of Palestine Category:1989 establishments in Palestine Palestine