Rawhi Fattouh

Rawhi Fattuh (Arabic: روحي فتوح, Rawḥī Fatūḥ, also transliterated as Rauhi Fattouh; born 23 August 1949) is a Palestinian politician and senior member of Fatah who has served as Chairman of the Palestinian National Council since 2022, succeeding Salim al-Zan'un. He previously served as Minister of Agriculture from 2003 to 2004 and Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council from 2004 to 2006.

Rawhi Fattouh
روحي أحمد محمد فتوح
Chairman of the Palestinian National Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 February 2022
Deputy	Ali Faisal Mousa Hadid
Preceded by	Salim al-Za'nun
Member of the Central Committee of Fatah
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2016
Interim President of the Palestinian National Authority
In office 11 November 2004 – 15 January 2005
Prime Minister	Ahmed Qurei
Preceded by	Yasser Arafat
Succeeded by	Mahmoud Abbas
3rd Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council
In office 10 March 2004 – 16 February 2006
Preceded by	Rafiq Al-Natsheh
Succeeded by	Aziz Dweik
Minister of Agriculture
In office 12 November 2003 – 10 March 2004
Prime Minister	Ahmed Qurei
Preceded by	Salam Fayyad (acting)
Succeeded by	Walid Abed Rabbu
Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Rafah Governorate
In office 20 January 1996 – 20 January 2006
Personal details
Born	Rawhi Ahmed Muhammad Fattouh (1949-08-23) 23 August 1949 (age 75) Rafah, Gaza Strip
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Fatah
Alma mater	University of Damascus

Following the death of President Yasser Arafat on 11 November 2004, Fattuh became interim President of the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with the Palestinian Basic Law.^[1] He held the position until elections were held and won by Abbas, who was sworn in on 15 January 2005.^[2] Fattuh was elected to Fatah's Central Committee in December 2016.^[3]

On 27 November 2024, President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree naming Fattuh as interim President of the Palestinian Authority in the event of Abbas’s death or resignation.^[4] Abbas later appointed Hussein al-Sheikh as Vice President of the State of Palestine on 26 April 2025.^[5]

Biography

Rawhi Fattouh was elected in 1996 as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council of the town of Rafah (in the southern Gaza Strip) for Fatah, where he was born and has lived for most of his life. He served as Secretary to the PLC until October 2003, when he became the Minister of Agriculture during the first year of the Second Qurei Government from 2003 until 2004.

In July 2004, Fattah’s parliamentary bloc nominated Fattouh as its candidate for Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He was elected to the position with the support of 34 Fatah delegates, while 10 voted against his nomination.^[6] In November of the same year, Fattuh supported Ahmed Qurei, his predecessor as speaker and former prime minister, to succeed Arafat as president.

Fattouh was sworn in as interim President of the Palestinian National Authority before the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah on 11 November 2004, following the death of Yasser Arafat. In his inaugural address, he praised Arafat as a martyr of the Palestinian people and pledged to faithfully follow Arafat's policies.^[7] Fattouh did not seek re-election in the 2006 legislative election and subsequently ceased to be a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.^[2]

In 2022, he chaired the 18-member Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization , which was dominated by members of Fatah. A member of the Palestinian National Council since 1983, Fattouh was regarded by some analysts as lacking significant political influence or charisma, limiting his ability to wield real power despite his senior positions.^[8]

In January 2023, Israel revoked Fattouh’s entry permit—along with those of two other senior Palestinian officials—after they visited Karim Younis, a prisoner recently released after serving a sentence for the 1980 murder of an Israeli soldier.^[9]

On 30 November 2024, President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree nominating Fattouh to assume the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in the event of his death or incapacity.^[10] However, according to article 37 of the Palestinian Basic Law, if the office of the President becomes vacant, the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council is constitutionally mandated to serve as interim President for a period not exceeding sixty days, during which presidential elections must be held, procedure which was itself applied with Fattouh in 2006. Since the PLC was officially dissolved by Abbas in 2018 and had not convened in full since June 2007 due to political divisions, the nomination of Fattouh was justified by the absence of an active legislative body capable of fulfilling the constitutional role.

Views

At an event in Algeria in 2023, Fattuh claimed that Arabs had inhabited Jerusalem for over 1.5 million years. He also claimed that the first human civilizations appeared in Mount Carmel, furthermore that the Kebaran "engineering civilization" appeared in the Kebara Cave, 60,000 years ago.[10]

Both of those claims contradict current scientific understanding. The oldest known humans came much later; the Kebaran culture was a hunter gatherer culture from about 30,000 years later.