# Who Leads the Palestinians?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-leads-the-palestinians/274380>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-leads-the-palestinians/274380 "2004-11-12T14:24:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-leads-the-palestinians/274380/1 "2004-11-12T14:24:28Z")

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Well, that’s the question…do the Palestinians have a leader? Or, was there never a true leader and Arafat was thrust into and/or seized the position? (Didn’t G.W. Bush refuse to recognize Arafat for this reason, IIRC?) I can only assume their leadship gets picked by “might makes right” as opposed to a more civilized way of picking a leader. Or, did Arafat pick his successor? Last, wehre will Arafat be buried? I heard some city (Hamarah?) mentioned, but in what country is this?

- Jinx

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-leads-the-palestinians/274380/2 "2004-11-12T14:34:01Z")

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> [@](#):
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> do the Palestinians have a leader? Or, was there never a true leader and Arafat was thrust into and/or seized the position?

Arafat is as legitimate a leader as any…he was properly voted President of the Palestinian Authority in, I think, 1994, in elections held under the Oslo accords.

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> (Didn’t G.W. Bush refuse to recognize Arafat for this reason, IIRC?)

G. W. Bush did not refuse to recognize Arafat as a Palestinian leader, he just refused to have anything to do with him, because he considered him to be a, evil, lying, terrorist weasel.

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> I can only assume their leadship gets picked by “might makes right” as opposed to a more civilized way of picking a leader. Or, did Arafat pick his successor?

You assume wrong. The PA has an official constitution describing the immediate succession. If anarchy doesn’t break out, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to come to a stable leadership situation by agreement; there’s a definite pecking order within Arafat’s Fatah party.

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> Last, wehre will Arafat be buried? I heard some city (Hamarah?) mentioned, but in what country is this?

Ramallah, in the West Bank - Israeli occupied territories.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-leads-the-palestinians/274380/3 "2004-11-12T14:48:10Z")

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It looks like Mahmoud Abbas is becoming the new PLO chief.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-leads-the-palestinians/274380/4 "2004-11-12T14:52:10Z")

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Also Qurei as head of the PA, and the BBC is saying that Kaddoumi takes over Fatah.