The reports surfacing about the impending resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are nothing new. Over the past year, similar rumors emerged repeatedly only to be proven false. Now, however, all indications suggest that the end of the Abbas era is imminent.

The PLO and its largest faction Fatah, both headed by Abbas, are preparing for a change of guard. A Palestinian source told the popular London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that when the Palestinian National Council convenes in May, the PLO institutions are expected to name a successor to the president, with Abbas lobbying for his associate Mahmoud al-Aloul. In February 2017, the Fatah Central Committee meeting in Bethlehem chose Aloul as deputy head of the party, a post that had not previously existed. He had served as the commander of Fatah’s armed wing, the Tanzim, but was a relatively unknown figure and his appointment surprised many.

Top Fatah officials claimed that Abbas chose Aloul to head off more popular would-be successors, among them Palestinian senior official Jibril Rajoub, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and even senior Fatah member Marwan Barghouti, who is serving several life sentences in an Israeli prison. The officials also said Abbas did all he could to prevent the participation of representatives from the Gaza Strip in the Central Committee meeting, fearing they would sway the vote in favor of his bitter enemy from Gaza, former Fatah senior Mohammed Dahlan.

A year on, Abbas now appears determined to name his deputy as his successor to lead the Palestinian Authority (PA).