Birth: NULL/NULL/1945 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Jerusalem in 1945; studied Physics in Mainz, Germany, from 1963; received a PhD in Nuclear Physics from the AUB in 1972; taught Physics in Germany, Italy, France, England, Lebanon and Jordan; returned to Palestine in 1980 and became Professor of Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University in 1982; also served as Chair of the dept. from 1982-1984; appointed the University’s Vice-Pres. for Academic Affairs from 1984-89; was a member of the Palestinian delegation to the 1991 Madrid Peace conference and remained involved in subsequent talks and negotiations since; served as Dir.-Gen. of the Technical and Advisory Committee to the Palestinian negotiation team; member of the final status negotiating team; in 1996, co-founded MAS -the Palestine Economic Research and Policy Institute in Ramallah and served as its director until 1998; was appointed Minister of State (without portfolio) in charge of the “Bethlehem 2000” project in 1998; in June 2002, appointed Minister of Tourism; became Minister of Planning in the cabinet of PM Mahmoud Abbas on 30 April 2003 and in the subsequent cabinet of PM Ahmed Qrei’a on 12 Nov. 2003; among the signatories of the Geneva Accords in Dec. 2003; resigned from his position on 7 Aug. 2004, after accepting an offer to become Pres. of Birzeit University.
