PA's Abbas moves toward creating vice presidency
The Palestinian leadership might appoint a vice president as an insurance policy against a US-Israeli backlash should President Mahmoud Abbas reject a final peace deal.
![PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) sits between his senior aide Yasser Abed Rabbo (R) and Amram Mitzna (L), a retired general and ex-leader of Israel's Labour party, during a meeting with members of the Middle East peace plan dubbed the Geneva Initiative, in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 19, 2010. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXVVUZ](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/02/RTXVVUZ.jpg/RTXVVUZ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=us036tAK)
The most essential role of the position of a vice president is to allow for a smooth transition in case the president becomes incapacitated. In many autocratic systems, presidents are afraid to appoint a vice president precisely for that reason. Palestine had not been an exception to this, until now.
The Palestinian Basic Law, a sort of temporary constitution, does not reference a position of vice president in any of its articles. Palestine’s first president, Yasser Arafat, never had a vice president, but he did anoint Mahmoud Abbas, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee, as his No. 2.