The deputy chief of mission at the PLO office in Washington is being promoted to chief of mission. Nabil Abuznaid assumed the post this month after Afif Safieh completed his tour, which began in 2005, to become the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow. Abuznaid is an American citizen and does not have to undergo the involved process of obtaining residency that has dogged other Palestinian diplomats. The Palestine Liberation Organization office operates at the will of the U.S. president. President Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, have routinely waived legislative bans on such a representation since the office was established in the mid-1990s in the wake of the Oslo peace process.
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