Birth: NULL/NULL/1944 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Samakh (near Tiberias) in 1944; fled with his family to Jordan during the War of 1948; received his school education in Jordan; was trained as teacher in Ramallah and found a first post in Saudi Arabia; began writing short stories; joined the PLO in 1967 and became increasingly politicized; received a BA in Arabic Literature from the Arab University of Beirut in 1969; elected PNC member; writer for Al-Ufoq Al-Jadid Jerusalem Magazine (1965) and Al-Adab Lebanese Magazine (1967); responsible for the Palestinian Information Center (1971-77); elected Sec-Gen. for the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Journalists (1980); elected Deputy Sec.-Gen. for the General Union of Arab Writers (1981-90); assigned Dir.-Gen. of the Palestinian Department of Culture (1987); served as cultural advisor to Pres. Yasser Arafat in 1990; returned to Palestine in 1994 and was assigned Deputy Minister of Culture; elected member of the Executive Council of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO) in 1996; headed the Palestinian Supreme Council for Education and Culture in 2002; was assigned PA Minister of Culture in Nov. 2003; has taken part in several Arab and international conferences, forums, debates and symposiums; story-writer and novelist; publications include Najran Below Zero (1976), That Rose of a Woman (1980), A Lake Beyond the Wind: A Novel (1999; Arabic original from 1991) and A River Bathing in the Lake (1997); in Dec. 2004 awarded the Palestine Prize for the Novel by the PA Ministry of Culture; was nominated Minister of Culture in the cabinet of PM Ahmad Qrei’a, approved by the PLC in Feb. 2005 (until after the Jan. 2006 PLC elections).
