Biography

Early years


President Mahmoud Abbas was born in the Palestinian city of Safed on November 15th, 1935. During the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948, when he was thirteen years old, Mahmoud Abbas, along with his family and many other Palestinians, was forced to leave their homeland and became refugees in Syria.

Academic achievements


President Abbas began his education in Safed. As a young adolescent living as refugee in Damascus, he worked to help to provide for his family, continuing his education at home, and eventually attending high school. He studied law at the University of Damascus, completing his degree in 1958.  In 1982, he was awarded a PhD in history from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in Russa.

Political career

In the mid-1950s, while he was a university study, Mahmoud Abbas became politically active.  He and others established a covert organization whose activities contributed to the founding of the Palestinian political movement Fatah, in 1965.
In 1957, Mahmoud Abbas worked as director of employee affairs at the Ministry of Education in Qatar. In this capacity, he was able to provide jobs to other Palestinians refugees. Abbas travelled frequently to these areas for this purpose.
In 1970, Abbas became fully involved in the national movement. In 1974, Abbas initiated the strategy of making contact with Israeli entities, with the approval of the Palestine National Council.
In 1978, he launched an initiative to twin Palestinian cities with other Arab cities.
Abbas represented the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C., on September 13th, 1993.
Abbas represented the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II) in Washington on September 23rd, 1995.

Official positions

President Mahmoud Abbas holds, or has held, the following political positions:

  • Member of Fatah’s Central Council (1964 to present)
  • Head of the PLO Negotiations Department (1974 - 2003)
  • Head of the Palestinian-Jordanian Committee (1979 - 1981)
  • Head of the National and International Relations Department of the PLO (1984 - 2000)
  • Head of the Palestinian Central Election Committee (1996 - 2002)
  • Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1996 - 2004)
  • Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (2003 to present)
  • Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (2004 to present)
  • Head of Fatah (2004 to present)
  • President of the Palestinian National Authority (elected - January 19th) (2005 to present)
  • President of Palestine  (elected from PLO Central Council - Oct 14th) (2008 to present)

Publications

President Mahmoud Abbas has authored over 60 books in Arabic. These include:

  • A No Return Ticket
  • From the Memory of Abu Mazen
  • Investing in Success
  • Palestinian Jewish Refugees
  • These Contacts: Why?
  • Israel and South Africa
  • The Political Process in the Middle East
  • Three Years after Oslo
  • The One Hundred and Thirty Day Experience
  • Ethnic and Religious Polarization in Israel
  • The Epic of Evil
  • The Fall of Netanyahu’s Government
  • The Other Face
  • The Palestinian Israeli Peace Negotiations
  • Zionism: Beginning and End
  • The Road to Oslo
  • From Oslo to Palestine
  • The Oslo Agreement in the Eyes of the Opposition
  • The Zionist Movement in the Literature of Lenin
  • Wanted: An Arab Keren Hayesod