Profiles of Palestinian presidential candidates
cctv.com 01-11-2005 16:54
The election for the chairmanship of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is due to be held on Jan. 9 to choose a successor to late leader Yasser Arafat. Mahmoud Abbas, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) Executive Committee, is the leading contender for the upcoming election.
The following are profiles of all the seven candidates.
1. Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is candidate of the mainstream Fatah movement.
Abbas was born in Safad in 1935. His family sought refuge in Syria in 1948, when the first Middle East War broke out.
During his stay in Syria, he obtained a law degree in the University of Damascus.
He later went to Moscow to pursue a PhD degree in history in the Oriental Institute, during which he showed interest in the study of Israel and concentrated on Zionism.
Abbas has devoted much of his life to struggle for an independent Palestinian state. He was a co-founder of the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and has been a member of theFatah's Central Committee since 1964.
In the 1970s, Abbas joined the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) Executive Committee.
Since 1977, he has begun contacts on behalf of the PLO with Israel's left-wingers.
In 1993, Abbas held 14 rounds of negotiations with Israel in the Norwegian capital Oslo, paving the way for the signing of the first peace deal between the Palestinians and Israel.
On Sept. 13, 1993, Abbas and then Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres signed the Declaration of Principle on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, or the so-called Oslo Accords, in the US capital Washington.
In 1996, Abbas was elected secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee.
He became the first Palestinian prime minister in March 2003,but resigned six months later over disputes with Arafat on security and administration issues.
He was named chairman of the PLO Executive Committee after the death of Arafat on Nov. 11, 2004.
2. Mustafa Barghouti, independent candidate, was born in Jerusalem in 1954.
With a PhD degree in medicine, two postgraduate degrees in philosophy and administration, Barghouti was elected president of the Medical Relief Committee in 1979, of which he was a co-founder.
He escaped an assassination attempt by the Israeli army in 1996,and was arrested in 2002 and banned from entering Jerusalem.
He is now secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative.
Barghouti was awarded several international prizes, including the prize of the International Health Organization in 2002 and the award of Defending the Palestinian Human Rights from the Struggle Against Racial Discrimination Organization.
3. Bassam Al-Salhi, candidate of the People Party of Palestine, was born in Amari refugee camp in 1960.
He has a Master degree in international studies. He was elected head of the student council at Birzeit University where he studied between 1979 and 1981.
He led the student movement against the Camp David Accord, which was signed in 1978, for which he was arrested several times and placed under house arrest.
He was a member of the National Unified Command of the first Intifada in 1987, when he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison and an additional three years under probation.
He later participated in the leadership commission of the Tunnel Intifada of 1996 and the Al-Aqsa Intifada of 2000.
He is member of the National Guidance Committee, the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Central Council.
4. Tayseer Khaled, candidate of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), was born in Qaryout village in the West Bank city of Nablus in 1941.
He holds a Master degree in economy and political sciences from Heidelberg University of Germany.
He joined the DFLP when it was established in 1969. He became a member of the Political Bureau in 1971 and was in charge of the DFLP's Lebanese branch from 1972 to 1982.
He has headed the DFLP's international relations office since1982 and became part of the group's leadership in the occupied territories during his stay in Jordanian capital Amman till 1991.
Khaled was elected to the PLO Executive Committee in 1991 and headed the National Office to Defend the Land and Resist the Settlements.
He was arrested by Israel in early 2003 and released six months later.
He has several publications on economics and politics.
5. Abd Al Karim Shbair, independent candidate, was born in Gaza in 1959.
With a PhD degree in international law, Shbair has devoted much of his energy to defending Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
He compiled a 23-volume encyclopedia containing all Israeli military orders and communiques in the Gaza Strip between 1967 and1994.
He has a 22-year-old career in law and has two law offices in the Gaza Strip. He lectures at the Gaza Mental Health Program and is member of several trade unions.
6. Abd Al Halim Al-Ashqar, independent candidate, was born in Sayda village in Tulkarm in 1958.
He graduated from Birzeit University in 1982 and obtained his Master degree from Lavern University in Greece in 1989. He later got a PhD degree in business administration in the University of Mississippi and worked as a professor in several US universities.
He was arrested three times by the United States for refusal to testify against Palestinian and Muslim activists.
He is currently under house arrest, awaiting trial for refusal to testify on charges of membership in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and assisting Hamas activities.
7. Sayyed Hussein Barakeh, independent candidate, was born in Bani Suheila village in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis in 1956.
He graduated from the Arts College of Alexandria University in1979, and later worked as a teacher in Algeria and Palestine.
He was arrested three times before and after the first Intifada and was deported to Lebanon in 1989 on charges of political leadership of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War). He remained in exile in Lebanon for 10 years.
Barakeh returned to Palestine in 1998, and later became Director-General of the Ministry of Youth and Sports till here signed to run in the presidential election.
Editor:Hu Hang Source:Xinhua News Agency
