Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has named a veteran aide and confidant as his new vice president. It’s a major step by the aging leader to designate a successor.

For many ordinary Palestinians, the appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh was emblematic of how out-of-touch the leadership of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority has become.

Sheikh, a longtime confidant, as vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), positioning him as a likely successor. The move, announced