RAMALLAH, May 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has named its executive committee chairmanMahmoud Abbas as President of the State of Palestine, officials said Sunday.

    The officials said the decision was officially made during a meeting of the PLO executive committee held in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday.

    "The executive committee of the PLO is authorizing Mahmoud Abbas to act as the President of the State of Palestine, and therefore, he has to handle all competences of the head of state," said a PLO decision.

    Abbas was elected on Jan. 9 as Palestinian National Authority (PNA) chairman to succeed the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who died in France in November 2004.

    The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war.

    The Palestine National Council, PLO's parliament, declared the establishment of the State of Palestine on Nov. 15, 1988 without specifying the border. Enditem