Born in Ramallah in 1953; received a BA in English Literature from the University of Cairo; worked as a journalist; worked for the Jordanian Ash-Sha‘ab newspaper in Jerusalem from 1976-79, then was its editor until 1981; organizer for PLO activities in the West Bank during the 1970s/early 1980s, for which he was placed under house arrest by the Israeli authorities from Aug. 1980 to mid-1981; worked in the Public Relations Dept. at Birzeit University from 1981-84; served as Chairman of the Arab Journalists’ Union in the OPT from 1983-85; on 3 Nov. 1986, was deported by Israel to Algeria via Geneva for “activities on behalf of Fateh”; linked up with the PLO in Tunis and became an aid to Khalil Al-Wazir; worked as PLO press representative in Tunis; was considered a link between the ‘outside’ leadership in Tunis and the inside’ leadership in the OPT; liaised between PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and the media during the 1991 Madrid peace talks; returned to Palestine in 1994; established Al-Ayyam newspaper in Ramallah in Dec. 1995 and serves as its editor since; became a political advisor to Arafat as well as a member of final status talks team; participated in the July 2000 Camp David talks and wrote a book about his experience, entitled The Camp David Papers (Ramallah, 2000); Board of Trustees member of An-Najah University; writes political essays and short stories; among his publications are Rites for Another Day (Arabic, 1986).

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Added: June 2006