Jaweed Al Ghussein

*Born in Gaza in 1930, Jaweed Al-Ghussein was made a refugee in 1948.

* Businessman who made his fortune in construction projects in the United Arab Emirates.

*He graduated from the American College in Egypt.

*Jaweed Al-Ghussein went on to build one of the leading construction groups in the Gulf, beginning in Kuwait.

*He subsequently founded the Cordoba Construction Group in the 60’s in Abu Dhabi and led that company for three decades. Cordoba was one of the earliest pioneers in Abu Dhabi.

*The Cordoba Group was unique at the time in that it provided training programme for Palestinian engineers and employment. It created specific funding programmes for Palestinian refugees enabling them to continue to higher education some of whom have become leaders in the fields of banking, academia, engineering and medicine.

*In 1984 he was elected by the PNC in Amman Jordan to the chairmanship of the PNF (Palestine National Fund). He was also elected to sit on the PLO Executive Committee.

*In the early eighties, he founded a British NGO, the Next Century Foundation (http://www.ncfpeace.org/drupal/), to work for peace and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.

*Died in June 2008 in London.

Source: www.alghussein-bauwens.com and others.