Palestinians might appoint a vice president to serve under the aging Abbas. Here's why it matters

Senior Palestinian officials loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas are meeting to vote on the creation of a vice presidency and could choose a possible successor to the unpopular 89-year-old.

The two-day meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council, beginning Wednesday, comes as Abbas seeks relevance and a role in postwar planning for the Gaza Strip after having been largely sidelined by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

In his opening speech, Abbas lashed out at Hamas, calling the militant group “sons of dogs,” using unusually harsh language in an apparent strategy aimed at garnering international support for a future role in Gaza.

The council is expected to vote on creating the role of vice chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, who would also be referred to as the vice president of the State of Palestine — which the Palestinians hope will one day receive full international recognition.

The expectation is that whoever holds that role would be the front-runner to succeed Abbas — though it’s unclear when or exactly how it would be filled.

The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in less than half of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Abbas' Fatah dominates both organizations.

Hamas, which won the last national elections in 2006, is not in the PLO. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas’ forces in 2007, and reconciliation attempts between the rivals have repeatedly failed.

Hamas touched off the war in Gaza when its militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 people hostage. Israel responded with an air and ground campaign that has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

Abbas is still seen internationally as the leader of the Palestinians and a partner in any effort to revive the peace process, which ground to a halt when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.

But the chain-smoking political veteran has clung to power since his mandate expired in 2009 and has not named a successor. He has repeatedly postponed elections, citing divisions with Hamas and Israeli restrictions, as polls in recent years have shown plummeting support for him and Fatah.

In his speech opening the PLO meeting, Abbas called on Hamas to release the dozens of hostages it still holds in order to “block Israel’s pretexts” for continuing the war in Gaza. He also called on Hamas to lay down their arms.

Mustapha Barghouti, a veteran Palestinian politician in the West Bank, said Abbas' harsh words were “inappropriate.”

“This will not create anything except more divisions and more anger within the Palestinian people,” he said.

Abbas, unlike Hamas' leaders, recognizes Israel and cooperates with it on security matters. He supports a negotiated solution to the conflict that would create a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Western nations have suggested a reformed Palestinian Authority should govern postwar Gaza.

Netanyahu's government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says Abbas is not truly committed to peace. Netanyahu has also ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and says Israel will maintain security control over the West Bank and Gaza indefinitely.

Creating a vice presidency would provide some clarity about the post-Abbas future, though he is set to maintain tight control over the process.

It comes as the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has made a series of reforms sought by Western and Arab donors, who have demanded changes for the Palestinian Authority to play a role in postwar Gaza. The authority is deeply unpopular and faces long-standing allegations of corruption and poor governance.

Israel has largely dismissed the authority's latest efforts and has shown no sign of changing its policies, which have the full support of the Trump administration.

The PLO's Central Council, composed of 180 members from inside and outside the territories, is meeting at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday and Thursday to amend the organization's bylaws.

They will vote on creating the new position. The Executive Committee, the PLO's top decision-making body, would then appoint one of its own 16 members through a process that is still being determined.

The main contender appears to be Hussein al-Sheikh, a close aide to Abbas who was appointed secretary-general of the PLO in 2022. He served for several years as the authority's main liaison with Israel, developing close ties with senior Israeli officials.

The only other member of the Executive Committee from Abbas' Fatah party is Azzam al-Ahmad, who has led past negotiations with Hamas. The others are lesser-known political independents or members of smaller factions.

It's possible, however, no one will be appointed just yet, even if the position is created.

A presidential decree last year said that if Abbas is unable to carry out his duties, then Rawhi Fattouh, the speaker of the PLO legislature, would lead the Palestinian Authority in a caretaker capacity until elections are held. Fattouh, who has served as a transitional leader before, has little influence or political support.

Abbas could potentially open the process to other candidates.

Majed Faraj oversees the Palestinian security and intelligence services. He and al-Sheikh are widely seen as Abbas' closest advisers, thought Faraj has adopted a much lower public profile.

Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah leader, has gained some popularity as head of the Palestinian soccer association but has sparked controversy internationally by pushing for sport boycotts of Israel.

Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza security chief who was exiled in 2010 after a bitter falling-out with Abbas, has cultivated close ties with the influential United Arab Emirates, where he serves as an adviser to the ruler. Abbas had accused him of corruption, but a recent amnesty could clear the way for him to return to the Palestinian territories.

Polls consistently show that the most popular Palestinian leader by far is Marwan Barghouti. The senior Fatah leader is currently serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of orchestrating deadly attacks against Israelis during the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s. Israel has ruled out his release as part of any Gaza ceasefire deal.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

FILE - Marwan Barghouti, center, raises his handcuffed hands in the air on the opening day of his trial in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 14, 2002. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

FILE - Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub, center, arrives at the Palestinian Central Election Commission office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on March 31, 2021, to register for a parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

FILE - Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

FILE - An armored Palestinian security vehicle is seen as Palestinian forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

FILE - Azzam Al-Ahmad speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

FILE - Hamas fighters stand in formation ahead of a ceremony to hand over Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

FILE - Palestinians attend a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the Hamas movement’s founding in Gaza City, Dec. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a conference at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Feb. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie returns to the witness stand Wednesday after a day spent recounting grotesque and humiliating details of life with her ex-boyfriend, Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Prosecutors allege Combs used his fame and fortune to orchestrate an empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties. His lawyers argue that, although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering. They contend all sexual acts were consensual.

Here's the latest:

Combs is in a creme-colored knit sweater over a button down white shirt with gray pants. He occasionally dons thick, black-rimmed glasses when exhibits are shown.

He stood and hunched over a laptop with two of his lawyers as his other lawyers conferred with prosecutors and the judge at the bench about logistics for the playing of “freak off” videos.

And she said it could ruin everything she’d worked for and “make me look like a slut.”

She said she always worried he’d get mad enough to release them.

“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” she said.

She said he claimed police were about to arrest him. And when she refused to accept his phone calls, Combs told her that if she didn’t pick up the phone, she’d “never hear my voice again,” Cassie said.

Jurors were then shown pictures of Cassie and Combs at a movie premier soon after the March 2016 hotel attack. Cassie described bruises on her body that were visible in the photographs and said she was unable to cover up all the damage with makeup. She wore dark sunglasses to cover her black eye.

She said she took the selfies on her Uber ride away from the Los Angeles hotel. She said she wore sunglasses because she had a black eye.

Once home, she said a friend of hers saw her injuries and was “super upset” because she’d “seen me with black eyes and busted lips before.”

Cassie said her friend called police, but she declined to reveal who had injured her once police arrived so they left.

“In that moment, I didn’t want to hurt him that way,” she testified. “I wasn’t ready.”

“I just remember it coming towards me. I remember it hitting a wall,” she said.

Earlier in the trial, a hotel security guard said he saw the damage when he arrived upstairs and told Combs he would have to pay for it. Cassie said she left the hotel in an Uber and went to her apartment, which was nearby.

Testimony resumed shortly before 10 a.m. on Wednesday at Combs’ sex trafficking trial with Cassie answering questions posed by prosecutor Emily Johnson for a second day.

Cassie was in a relationship with Combs for a decade. Johnson picked up where she left off Tuesday, asking Cassie about video images of Combs beating her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

During her testimony Tuesday, Cassie said eventually she was doing “freak offs” weekly. They went on for a decade, with the final one in 2017 or 2018, she said. Each time, she said, she had to recuperate from lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs and “having sex with a stranger for days.”

She described the situation as: “‘Freak offs’ became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again.”

During her opening statement, prosecutor Emily Johnson told the jury Cassie was not the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.

Combs was among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, working with artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige and Usher. He also created the fashion clothing line Sean John and produced the reality show “Making the Band.”

Prosecutor Emily Johnson, who delivered an opening statement Monday, has softened her tone considerably in questioning the government’s star witness, Cassie, about the 10 years she spent with Combs.

While she repeatedly referred to Combs as “the defendant” in her opening, Johnson often calls him “Sean” as she delicately questions Cassie, who’s in the third trimester of pregnancy with her third child.

Cassie said her first “freak off” occurred in Combs’ Los Angeles home with a male stripper from Las Vegas. She told jurors she felt dirty and confused afterward, but also relieved that Combs was happy.

Still, she said she felt obligated to go along with future “freak offs.”

“I just didn’t want to make him upset,” she said. “I just didn’t want to make him angry and regret telling me about this experience that was so personal.”

Cassie began crying when asked if she liked any aspect of the “freak offs.” She said she enjoyed “time spent with him.”

She said she used drugs at every “freak off” to numb herself during “emotionless sex with a stranger that I didn’t really want to have sex with.”

The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done.

In her 2023 civil lawsuit, Cassie alleges Combs trapped her in a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking” for more than a decade, including raping her and forcing her to engage in sex acts with male sex workers. Combs settled the lawsuit the next day.

In May 2024, CNN aired video that showed Combs attacking Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016. The video closely mirrored an assault described in her lawsuit, which said Combs had already punched her that night, and she was trying to leave the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles when he woke and came after her. In the footage, a man who appears to be Diddy, wearing only a towel, punches Cassie, kicks her, and throws her on to the floor. The lawsuit alleges Combs paid $50,000 to bury the video at the time.

Among other things, Cassie alleges Combs raped her when she tried to leave him and often punched, kicked and beat her, causing injuries including bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson says she’ll be questioning Cassie about her 10-year relationship with Combs for about half the day today before defense lawyers begin their cross examination.

She finished Tuesday by questioning Cassie as prosecutors once again displayed recorded footage of Combs’ attack on Cassie at a bank of elevators in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. He kicked her and dragged her and later apologized after CNN first aired video of the attack last year.

Cassie told jurors she was “sexually inexperienced” when she met Combs and that he introduced her to various sex acts before asking her to engage in her first “freak off” when she was barely 22. Cassie said she was “confused, nervous, but also loved him very much” and “wanted to make him happy.”

Cassie, now 38, said her relationship with Combs ran the gamut from good times to arguments and physical altercations. She said the abuse happened “too frequently” and sometimes came after the smallest perceived slights.

Cassie said Combs ordered her to recruit male sex workers for “freak offs” and that he would pay them thousands of dollars to have sex with her. The encounters, fueled by ecstasy and other drugs, would go on for 36 or 48 hours, and she said the longest lasted four days. They took place in private, often in dark hotel rooms, unlike Combs’ very public White Parties in the Hamptons that attracted A-list celebrities.

▶ Read more about Cassie’s first day of testimony

A jury of 12 New Yorkers, plus a half-dozen alternates, is hearing testimony at the trial.

The group tilts male and middle-aged or older. Only three jurors are under 40. Five are over 60. Classical music listeners outnumber people who identified as hip-hop fans.

Their identities are known to the judge and lawyers but won’t be made public. The jurors revealed a little about themselves as they were selected for the trial.

Here’s what we know about the regular jurors:

Eight men

Four women

▶ Read more about the jury

Cassie sued Combs in 2023 alleging years of rape and abuse. The suit was settled within hours, but was followed by dozens of similar legal claims and touched off a criminal investigation.

A singer, actor, dancer and model, Cassie’s professional ambitions began in adolescence, when she signed to the top-tier talent and modeling agency Wilhelmina. Her music career launched shortly thereafter, when she left her home state of Connecticut for New York, where she signed with manager Tony Mottola and first met Combs.

Cassie met Combs in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37. He signed her to his Bad Boy Records label and, within a few years, they started dating.

▶ Read more about Cassie

Cassie returns to the witness stand Wednesday after a day spent recounting grotesque and humiliating details of life with her ex-boyfriend.

During her first day of testimony, Cassie described being pressured into degrading sexual encounters with paid sex workers. She also recounted being beaten numerous times by Combs when she did things that displeased him — like smiling at him the wrong way.

“You make the wrong face and the next thing I knew I was getting hit in the face,” she said.

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, accused Combs of gaining her submission by threatening to publicly release videos of her with male sex workers.

Combs’ attorneys have acknowledged Combs could be violent but maintain that the sexual acts were consensual. They say nothing he did amounted to sex trafficking or racketeering — the charges that he faces.

Lawyers for Combs have yet to cross-examine Cassie, a type of questioning that will give them an opportunity to challenge her credibility or poke holes in her accounts of what happened.

▶ Read more about Cassie’s testimony

Sean Diddy'Combs, far left, and attorney Marc Agnifilo, right, sit at the defense table during witness testimony in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Cassie Ventura wipes tears from her eye while testifying in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)