On the eve of the first general meeting of the Palestinian National Council in 22 years, the PLO is set to downsize dramatically. The PNC will convene in Ramallah April 30, and Al-Monitor has learned from PLO sources that as many as 600 of the body's staff members will be asked to take early retirement in the coming months.

PLO Executive Committee members Hanna Amireh and Assad Abdel Rahman have confirmed the restructuring plan. The main objective is reducing many of the PLO departments for which there are active ministries in the Palestinian government. Amireh told the Jordanian news site AmmanNet April 20 that the PLO’s departments of social affairs, youth, Jerusalem, education, diaspora affairs and military will be closed. The departments of refugees, planning, culture, media and the national fund will remain.

“When the PLO was responsible for all Palestinian affairs, this made sense, but now we have a government with relevant ministries and it doesn’t make sense to have such duplication,” Amireh, a leader with the People's Party, was quoted as saying by the Saudi Arab News April 22.

Traditionally, the PLO’s Executive Committee has acted as the Palestinian national leadership, with every member acting as a minister running a department with staff and budgets. “Executive Committee members will still have an office, one staff person, a secretary and a driver,” a PLO source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.