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Nabil Sha'ath

nabil sha'ath

Nabil Sha'ath

Palestinian International Co-operation Minister

(Born 1938)

Shaath was born in 1938 in Safad to a Gazan father and a Lebanese mother. He became an Egyptian citizen in 1965 and studied in Alexandria. He earned a PhD in economics from the Wharton School, Pennsylvania University. Shaath worked as an industry consultant and management trainer (heading a company called TEAM) in Algeria, Kuwait, Saudi, and Lebanon. He also taught at the American University in Beirut.

He joined PLO in 1970 and served as an adviser to Fatah from 1971. Dr. Shaath became the head of the PLO Planning Centre 1971 - 1981. He is credited as being the founder of the Democratic State approach. In 1974, Dr. Shaath accompanied Arafat in the first PLO delegation to the United Nations and headed the first Palestinian delegation to the UN. He serves as chair of Palestinian National Council political committee. In March 1990, Shaath was appointed to Fatah-CC. Shaath was a member of the Madrid delegation and played a leading role in the Oslo process. He held a meeting with Yossi Sarid in July 1993 (the first meeting between a PLO leader and an authorized Israeli cabinet member) to agree on the Gaza-Jericho formula; Shaath wrote a Palestinian draft Declaration of Principles for the Oslo agreement. He served as the PLO's chief negotiator at the Taba talks from October 1993. Shaath is a Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member for Khan Yunis. From 1994 until his appointment in the cabinet of Abu Mazen, Dr. Shaath has been the Palestinian Authority's Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.

He is a member of the Fatah Central Committee. Shaath has been criticised for extensive corruption by the PLC in 1997. A PLC inquiry found evidence of criminal corruption in August 1998; However, Shaath continued to play a leading role in the Palestinian negotiating team. Shaath served as the foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, but was demoted to minister of information and deputy prime minister in the establishment of the new Palestinian cabinet in March 2005.

After the victory of Hamas in the January 2005 elections, Shaath no longer serves in the Palestinian cabinet.

(Sources: Palestine Media Center, Jewish Virtual Library)

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