Palestinian movement Fatah elects Hussein al-Sheikh as deputy leader

The Central Committee of the Palestinian movement Fatah on Wednesday elected Hussein al-Sheikh as its deputy leader, the movement's spokesperson told Anadolu.

This took place during the first meeting of the newly formed Central Committee, following the official election of its members last month during the movement’s Eighth General Conference in 2026, Iyad Abu Zneit said.

Senior Fatah figure Mahmoud al-Aloul had served as deputy head of the Fatah movement since 2017, becoming the first to hold the post.

With this decision, Hussein al-Sheikh becomes the second person to assume the role.

On 18 May, Fatah announced the election of 18 members to its Central Committee and 80 members to its Revolutionary Council as part of the proceedings of its eighth conference.

The Central Committee is considered the highest leadership body in the movement and is headed by the leader of Fatah, while the Revolutionary Council serves as the movement’s parliament and oversight body, monitoring the work of the Central Committee and discussing its policies.

Preliminary official results of the conference showed the election of 18 members to the Central Committee, including Yasser Abbas, the son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

On the first day of the three-day conference, Fatah renewed the election of Mahmoud Abbas as president of the movement and its general commander.

Fatah held its Eighth Conference in Ramallah last month, marking the third time the movement has held such a conference inside Palestine, after the sixth conference in 2009 in Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, and the seventh in 2016 in Ramallah in the central West Bank.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul