Mahmoud al-Aloul (born 11 December 1950 ) is a Palestinian politician who formerly served as the governor of the Palestinian Authority's Nablus governorate in the Central Highlands of the West Bank from 1995 to 2005. Al-Aloul was elected to the Central Committee of Fatah in August 2009 during the 6th General Conference, and later became Vice Chairman following the 7th General Conference held in 2016. In early 2018, he was widely discussed as the likely successor to Mahmoud Abbas as President of the Palestinian National Authority. After the Six-Day War, al-Aloul was arrested by Israel and sent to live in Jordan, where he joined Fatah. He rose within Fatah, and, in the 1970s, moved to Lebanon. There he served under Khalil al-Wazir, as commander of a Fatah brigade that captured eight Israeli soldiers in 1983. The Israeli prisoners were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli hands. According to Aloul, the Palestinians still maintain their belief in armed struggle against the State of Israel.