Birth: NULL/NULL/1942 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Gaza City in 1942; joined Fateh in 1959 (first female member); holds a BA in History from Damascus University; participated in the first conference for Palestinian women in 1965; founding member of the GUPW, its Sec.-Gen. from 1980-1985, and long-term leader of the Palestinian women’s movement; established together with her future husband Khalil Al-Wazir (marriage in 1962) Fateh cells in Gaza and the West Bank; later lived in Kuwait, Algeria and Syria; became temporary Fateh commander when Syria imprisoned the entire leadership in 1966; served as head of the PLO’s Social Welfare Dept. and the Families of Martyrs Foundation since the 1960s; founded numerous centers for women, literacy training and rehabilitation; one of the first two women members of the Fateh General Conference in 1972; PNC member since 1974; Deputy Sec.-Gen. of the Fateh Revolutionary Council in 1983; member of the Fateh Central Committee since 1987; later Vice-President of the Fateh Revolutionary Council; widow of Khalil Al-Wazir, assassinated in 1988; member of the PLO Exec. Committee since 1988; Fateh Central Committee member since Aug. 1989; independent member of the PLO Central Council; returned to Gaza with Yasser Arafat in the wake of the Oslo Accords in July 1994; became PA Minister for Social Affairs in 1995; elected PLC member for Gaza City in the Jan. 1996 elections; member (Social Affairs) of the reduced PA cabinet of June 2002 and the new cabinet of 29 Oct. 2002; appointed Min. of Social Affairs in the cabinet of PM Mahmoud Abbas on 30 April 2003 and the successive cabinet of PM Qrei’a in Nov. 2003 until the cabinet reshuffle in Feb. 2005; was re-elected as PLC member (Fateh list) in the January 2006 elections.
