PALESTINE FACTS

Personalities - Chronological Listing

1990s

 
ABU MEDDIEN, FREIH (1944-)
Born in Gaza; Palestinian lawyer; L.L.B. graduate from Alexandria University, Egypt, in 1971; member of various Palestinian councils and associations; former elected head of Gaza Bar Association (1989-94); member of the Palestinian negotiating team to the peace conference; PA Minister of Justice.  

 

BARGHOUTHI, BASHIR (1931-)
Born in Ramallah; journalist and editor; BA Economics from the American University in Beirut, 1956; member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in 1957 arrested by the Jordanians and detained for 8 years at Al-Jaffar prison; returned to the West Bank in 1974 via family reunification; chief editor of Al-Fajr newspaper, 1975-77; founder and head of the Palestinian Communist Party (now: Palestine People's Party) in the OPT on February 10, 1982; put under house arrest by the Israelis in the early 1980s; chief editor of At-Taliah weekly newspaper in Jerusalem.  

 

EREKAT, SA'EB (1955-)
Born in Jerusalem; M.A. graduate from San Francisco State University in 1979; Ph.D. Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies, Bradford University, England, 1983; lecturer of Political Science at An-Najah University; member of the Palestinian negotiating team to the peace conference; PA Minister of Local Government and Municipal Affairs.  

 

HUSSEINI, FAISAL (1940-2001 )
Born in 1940 in Baghdad; studied in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus; founding member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in 1959; worked for the PLO after its initial establishment in Jerusalem as deputy manager of the Public Organisation Dept. (1964-65); received military training at a Syrian officer's academy and joined the Palestinian Liberation Army in 1967; graduate from Damascus Military College 1967; founder and chairman of the Arab Studies Society, since 1979; in the 1980s placed repeatedly under house and city arrest; several times imprisoned; member of the Supreme Muslim Council, Jerusalem, since 1982; Palestinian spokesperson; head of the Jerusalem National Council/Palestine; head of Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Conference; head of Fatah-faction in the West Bank; Arafat's chief representative in the OPT; active in developing and promoting Israeli-Palestinian dialogue; Palestinian national movement's local mediator for peace.  

 

JA'ABARI, SHEIKH SULAIMAN (1912-1994)
Born in Hebron; studied at al-Azhar University in Cairo; worked as educator in Jaffa, Lydda, and Hebron, and in religious courts in Jaffa, Kydda and Safed; appointed Deputy Mufti of Jerusalem by Sheikh Jarallah after the British Mandate; chief magistrate for Jordan and Mufti of the Jordanian army; worked in education in Saudi Arabia and Qatar; counselor in the Department of Education, Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah and El-Bireh until he retired (1975); appointed Mufti of Jerusalem by Jordan (in 1993) until his death.  

 

JARRAR, BASSAM
Educator; Imam of Ramallah mosque; placed repeatedly under house arrest and several times imprisoned; member of the Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem.  

 

MIKHAIL ASHRAWI, HANAN (1946-)
Palestinian politician; born in 1946 in Ramallah; member of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), 1967-72; member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in Beirut, 1967-70; working at the Palestinian Information Office, Beirut, 1968-70; graduate from American University of Beirut (M.A., English literature, 1970); Professor of English Literature at Birzeit University since 1974; founding member and director of the Legal Aid Committee since 1974; Ph.D., English Literature, at University of Virginia, USA, 1981; Dean of Arts at Birzeit University 1986-90; member of the Union of Palestinian Writers; former member of Palestinian steering committee in the peace process and Palestinian delegation spokesperson for the negotiations at the Madrid and Washington peace talks; presented the Palestinian case in a moderate pragmatic way; contributed to development of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue; founder and head (1993-1995) of the Independent Palestinian Citizen's Rights Commission.  

 

NATSHEH, MUSTAPHA ABD AL-NABI (1930-)
Chaiman of Arab Cement Company, elected and deposed deputy Mayor of Hebron (1976-1983). Appointed Mayor of Hebron by the PA in 1994.  

 

NUSSEIBEH, MOHAMMAD
Engineer, member of Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem, head of Board of Trustees of Al-Quds University, member of various Palestinian Organisations.  

 

NUSSEIBEH, SARI (1949-)
Academic; political analyst and columnist; born in 1949 in Jerusalem; son of Anwar Nusseibeh, a former Palestinian-Jordanian diplomat; graduate from Oxford University (politics, philosophy, economics, 1977) and Harvard University (PhD in philosophy, 1978); Professor of philosophy at Birzeit University, 1978-90; Director of Al-Quds University since 1995.  

 

RANTISI, ABDUL AZIZ ALI (1947-)
Pediatrician/Lecturer, Faculty of science, Islamic University of Gaza, chief Pediatrician Government Hospital, Khan Yunis (76-86).  

 

SAFIEH, AFIF (1950-)
Born in Jerusalem, studied in France and Belgium, MA from the Institute of National Politics in Paris, visiting scholar at Harvard University 1985-87. PLO representative in the Netherlands 87-90; PLO representative in London 90-95.  

 

SHAATH, NABIL
Born in Safed, Galilee; leader of the PLO Planning Centre in Beirut; sought a dialogue with Israelis on the democratic state idea he was championing in the late sixties; chairman of the Political Committee of the PNC; coordinator of the Palestinian peace talks negotiating team; Cairo businessman and Senior Advisor to Arafat; PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.  

 

SHAKA'A, GHASSAN (1943- )
Born in Nablus; lawyer; L.L.B. from Beirut University, 1971; member of the Executive Committee of the Council for Higher Education; in 1986, representaive of the Lawyers Union in Nablus; head of the Lawyer Bar Association in the West Bank since 1990; appointed by the PA to head the Nablus Municipality Council in October 1994.  

 

YASSIN, SHEIKH AHMAD (1937-)

Palestinian religious leader; Muslim brother and preacher; born in 1937 in Ashqelon; refugee in Gaza since 1948; worked as teacher, preacher and community worker; completely paralyzed following an accident in his youth; founder of the Islamic Centre in Gaza in 1973 which soon controlled all religious institutions; creator, spiritual leader and key figure of HAMAS, the Islamic Resistance Movement in the OPT; detained since May 1989; believes that Palestine belongs to Islam and advocates an Islamic state in all of Palestine.

  

 

AL-ZAHHAR MAHMOUD (1945- )

Surgeon, lecturer, Islamic University, Gaza. Member, Council for Higher Education, elected in 1990 chaiman of Arab Medical Association of Gaza.

 

 

 

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