Marwan Akram Dudin (; 1936 – 18 April 2016) was a Jordanian politician and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. He held high level positions at Jordan's national airline and the Hashemite Broadcasting Service before he held several ministerial posts in the 1970s and 1980s. His longest term as Minister was that of Agriculture, from 1980 to 1984. In his later life Dudin served in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Early life

Dudin was born in

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

, Palestine, in 1936. He studied English and literature at

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

. Dudin started his career as a teacher of English, and he soon became a translator for

Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- lar ...

in Saudi Arabia. From 1964 to 1967 he was dean of student affairs at the Saudi College for Petroleum and Minerals. He returned to Jordan to become director of the commercial division of airline

Royal Jordanian Royal Jordanian Airlines (formerly known as Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines) is the flag carrier of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at ...

, in which capacity he worked from 1968 to 1971. The two subsequent years he was director of the Hashemite Broadcasting Service.

Political career

Dudin's political career took office in August 1973 when he was named Minister of Culture and Information. He served until November and was then made Minister of State for Prime Minister's Affairs. He kept this position until 1974. The same year he became director and chairman of the Jordanian Cooperative Organization. In 1978 he was made Jordan's ambassador to Romania. Back in Jordan he served shortly as director of the Cities and Villages Development Bank in 1980, until being appointed as Minister of Agriculture. Dudin was minister until 1984. In 1986 Dudin started serving as Minister of State for the Occupied Territory Affairs. During his time in office he had to deal with corruption allegations towards high officials regarding the sale of olive oil from the

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 ...

to the Jordanian government. Dudin also led efforts for a $1-billion development plan for the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

. In 1988 the Ministry of Occupied Territory Affairs was abandoned and Dudin was subsequently appointed as Minister of Labour. Dudin was a member of the

during four different sessions; 18th (1998–2001), 19th (2001–2003), 22nd (2007–2009), 23rd (2009–2010). He served as a member of a Royal committee revisiting the constitutional design of Jordan, including the

Constitution of Jordan The Constitution of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was adopted on 1 January 1952. It revised the previous Constitution of 1947 to expand the powers of the legislature and add checks to the executive power of the cabinet. The Constitution defi ...

and its Constitutional Court. Dudin died on 18 April 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudin, Marwan 1936 births 2016 deaths Cairo University alumni Jordanian people of Palestinian descent Members of the Senate of Jordan Ambassadors of Jordan to Romania Politicians from Beersheba Prime ministry affairs ministers of Jordan Culture ministers of Jordan Agriculture ministers of Jordan Labor ministers of Jordan Information ministers of Jordan Jordanian diplomats