Hasan Abu-Libdeh (; born 1954) is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

statistician and politician, who founded the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

in 1993. He served in the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...

as Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, and National Economy.

Biography

Hasan Abu-Libdeh was born in Arrabeh,

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

in 1954. He completed a Bachelor's degree in mathematics at

Birzeit University Birzeit University () is a public university in the West Bank, Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as a charitable organization. It is accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Mini ...

in 1979, and an M.Sc. in

mathematical statistics Mathematical statistics is the application of probability theory and other mathematical concepts to statistics, as opposed to techniques for collecting statistical data. Specific mathematical techniques that are commonly used in statistics inc ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1981. Abu-Libdeh later received an M.Sc. in

applied statistics Statistics (from German: ', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or socia ...

in 1986 and a Ph.D. in

biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) is a branch of statistics that applies statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experimen ...

in 1988 from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. He worked as assistant professor at Birzeit University from 1988 to 1991. Abu-Libdeh founded the

in 1993, becoming its first director and administering its controversial first census in 1997, which he called "as important as the intifada". Alongside his ministerial positions in the Palestinian Authority, Abu-Libdeh served as Deputy Director of the

Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction The Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) () is an independent institution established by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993. Its main responsibilities are coordination with donor communities in projec ...

and twice as Cabinet Secretary. He also worked as chief executive of the 2008

Palestine Investment Conference The Palestine Investment Conference (PIC) is aimed at strengthening the economy of Palestine and supporting a future Palestinian state. It took place in the Bethlehem Convention Palace, Convention Palace Bethlehem in 2008 and 2010. The conference wa ...

. On 29 November 2011, the Palestinian prosecutor-general charged Abu Libdeh with corruption, with charges including breach of trust, fraud,

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

, and

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

of public funds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Libdeh, Hasan 1954 births Biostatisticians Birzeit University alumni Cornell University alumni Fatah members Government ministers of the Palestinian National Authority Palestinian mathematicians Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni Living people People from Arraba, Jenin Palestinian statisticians Academic staff of Birzeit University