Fatah appoints deputy chief to Abbas

The Palestinian ruling party Fatah has elected a deputy chief to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, making him the veteran leader's likely successor, Anadolu news agency reported, citing Palestinian officials.

Mahmoud al-Aloul, 67, is a former member of the high military committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is dominated by Fatah. He has also served as the governor of the West Bank city of Nablus, where his headquarters was blown up by the Israelis in 2002. He is now next in line to succeed 82-year-old Abbas.

The new Fatah deputy chief is a confidant of the Palestinian president and enjoys popularity within Fatah's ranks, according to the Palestinian news website Sawa.

Aloul, also known as Abu Jihad, spent three years in Israeli jails after the occupation of the West Bank in 1967. He was then expelled to Jordan, and he joined the PLO in Beirut.

Fatah and the PLO engaged in armed struggle against Israel for most of the second half of the past century. But since the ill-fated Oslo agreement in 1993, they have largely renounced military activity and pursued negotiations with Israel to find a resolution to the conflict based on a two-state solution.