Birth: 22/6/1950 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Gaza City on 22 June 1950; received a BA in English Literature and Language from Damascus University in 1973; lived and worked as teacher and translator in Syria, Bahrain, and Oman, during the 1970s; studied towards an MA in Arab Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, US, graduating in 1979; taught at Georgetown from 1979-83; worked as Research Director at the Center for Research and Publishing in Washington, DC, from 1983-85; earned a PhD in Philosophy and Comparative Politics from Georgetown University in 1985; returned to the West Bank and became a Assistant Professor of Political Science (and a year later also of Cultural Studies) at Birzeit University in 1985 (until 1993); served as Exec. Committee member of the Arab Organization for Political Science from 1987-2000; went back to his teaching position at Birzeit University, also serving as Chairman of the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Dept. in 1988-89; received a Diploma in US Foreign Policy Process from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland; was a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University and a member of the Brookings Working Group on Arab-Israeli Peace during 1990-91; was a member of the Exec. Committee of the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine in Washington, DC, from 1991-96; Associate Professor of Political Science at Birzeit University since 1993; was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Palestine Research and Studies (CPRS) in Nablus from 1993-96; served as Deputy Chairman of the Independent Group for Palestinian Elections in 1994; was a Visiting Scholar at the State University of New York in 1995; was elected PLC member for Gaza City in the 1996 elections; Chair of the PLC Political Committee and member of the Human Rights and Oversight Committees from 1996-2003; Pres. of the Palestinian Council on Foreign Relations in Gaza since 1998; Board of Directors member of Miftah since 1998; member of the PLC Political and Budget Committees since 2003; became Minister of Culture in the cabinet of PM Mahmoud Abbas on 30 April 2003 (until Oct. 2003); member of the Higher Education Council; member of the PLO Central Council; was re-elected as PLC member (Independent, Gaza City) in the Jan. 2006 elections; has written numerous articles and research papers as well as authored several books, incl. The Origins of Political Movements in the Gaza Strip: 1948-1967 (Arabic; Dar Al-Aswar, Acre, 1987), The Intifada: Causes and Factors of Continuity (Jerusalem: PASSIA, 1989), Emerging Trends in Palestinian Strategic Political Thinking and Practice (Jerusalem: PASSIA, 1992), Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza (Bloomington: 1994), Civil Society and Democratization in Palestine (Cairo: Ibn Khaldun Center, 1995).
