Birth: NULL/NULL/1948 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Deir Al-Ghussun near Tulkarem in 1948; studied Political Science at the AUC (BA, 1972), Economics at Kansas State University, US (MA, 1974), and Political Science at Missouri University (PhD, 1977); worked as Professor of Political Science at Jordan University from 1978-79, when he was fired for ‘security’ reasons; returned to the West Bank and became Professor of Political Science at An-Najah National University in Nablus since 1980; head of the Academic Group at An-Najah University since 1980; has been jailed by Israel in 1981 and 1988 for his books, most of which were banned; activist in the first Intifada; was put under house arrest and prohibited to travel for 20 years by the Israeli authorities for his political opinions; also served a total of 32 weeks in Palestinian jails for his dissident views; in 1995, survived a gun attack – believed by Palestinian security forces; was arrested by PA security forces in 1999 after signing a petition complaining about corruption, but released several weeks later after protests from human rights groups; received an Abdul Hamid Shoman Award for Scientific Research and the post-doctoral “Professor” title; became the first person to announce that he would stand for the presidency against Yasser Arafat in May 2002; considered candidacy for the position of President of the PA in the 2005 PA elections following Arafat’s death but withdrew before the start of the campaign.
