The BBC reports that Hussein a-Sheikh, who was recently appointed secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee and is destined to succeed Abu Mazen, has been given substantial powers that have hitherto been vested in PA Chairman Abu Mazen, due to his health condition. 

Interesting indeed is that Hussein a-Sheikh himself has written just a while ago he own denial of a sort: 

"There is no truth to the yellow news circulating about the health of President Mahmoud Abbas, and he is in good health and is doing his work as usual, and what he is promoting is aimed at tampering with the internal Palestinian situation."

NEWSRAEL: It is known, as we have reported, that Abbas sees a-Sheikh as his heir and this may be a way for his rivals to harm him. In any case, it shows the tension in Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.