Nasser Al Qudwa, also spelled Nasser Al-Kidwa,Former Ambassadors
, Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, (Retrieved 11 Jan 2015). (; born 16 April 1953) is a Palestinian politician. A long-time activist in

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

, he represented the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

from 1991 to 2005, when he became the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

of the

Palestinian 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 occupation of the West Bank, ...

. Al Qudwa served in that role until 2006.

Early life and education

Al Qudwa was born in 1953. He attended

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 ...

, graduating with a degree in dentistry in 1979. Then became an executive member of the Palestinian Red Crescent shortly after.

Career

Al Qudwa joined

in 1969. He became president of the

General Union of Palestinian Students The General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS; ) is a Palestinian student organization. Created in the 1920's, it is generally considered one of the first Palestinian institutions. It was officially launched in Cairo in 1959 with chapters formed ...

in 1974. He is also a central-committee member of Fatah. Qudwa represented his uncle

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

and the

as an unofficial observer in the

in 1987, then as a permanent observer in 1991. In 2005, he was succeeded by Riyad H. Mansour, when he became Foreign Affairs Minister in the Palestinian Authority Government of February 2005. Nasser served as United Nations Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan in the

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan ('UNAMA'') is a UN Special Political Mission tasked with assisting the people of Afghanistan. UNAMA was established on 28 March 2002 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1401. Revi ...

(UNAMA). Al Qudwa was appointed deputy to

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

, then special envoy to Syria for the

and

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

in March 2012. He was responsible for the contacts with Syrian opposition groups. In 2014, Al Qudwa resigned from his position as UN Deputy Mediator on Syria. On 21 March 2021, the

Fatah Central Committee The Fatah Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the Palestinian people, Palestinian organization and political party, Fatah. History The first Fatah Central Committee was formed in February 1963, consisting of ten members, in ...

dismissed Al Qudwa from the party after he announced plans to run a separate list of candidates under the National Democratic Forum bloc in the 2021–22 Palestinian local elections. He also announced plans to back Marwan Barghouthi, serving life sentences in Israeli prison for murder, in the planned 2021 Palestinian presidential election, which was delayed indefinitely. Al Qudwa's announcement and subsequent dismissal represented fissures in Fatah, as Al Qudwa called for Fatah leaders to stand against Palestinian President

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

Personal life

Al Qudwa is the nephew of

. He is the head of the Yasser Arafat Foundation.

References

External links

* by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report * , - 1953 births Living people Central Committee of Fatah members Foreign ministers of the Palestinian National Authority 20th-century Palestinian diplomats Permanent observers of Palestine to the United Nations {{Palestine-bio-stub

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links