Hasan Abdel Rahman (born 1944 in

Surda, Ramallah Surda ( ar, سرده) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located northeast of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 1,031 in ...

British Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

) is a former

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

and PNA Ambassador to the

Kingdom of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. Nominated by the

PLO Executive Committee The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO EC) ( ar, اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and act ...

in 1983 to serve as the

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...

's representative in Washington, D.C., from 1994 through 2005 he represented the

in the American capital.Shenon, Philip. "The New York Times", October 16, 2000. Amb. Abdel Rahman is currently the Executive Director and General Coordinator of the Arab-Latin American Forum and a senior advisor to the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (FUNGLODE). Ambassador Abdel Rahman began his academic career at Damascus University in the early 1960s. However, his active participation in the university's Palestinian student political movement brought him to the attention of the

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

Mukhabarat ( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Organi ...

, eventually forcing him to flee

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1964 for Latin America. Ambassador Abdel Rahman ended up spending one year in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and three years in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

before moving on to various Caribbean nations and eventually settling in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

.Luxner, Larry. "The Middle East" April, 1998. In 1971, Ambassador Abdel Rahman graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. One year later, he earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

from the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

. In 1972, Ambassador Abdel Rahman left for the United States where he was a

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

candidate in

from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. In 1974, Ambassador Abdel Rahman was hired by the

to help prepare for Yasser Arafat's historic address to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. When on November 22, 1974, the organization received formal observer status, Ambassador Abdel Rahman became its deputy representative in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Just weeks prior to the announcement, Ambassador Abdel Rahman was the victim of a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attack in his

offices by two armed members of the Jewish Defense League who entered the building and beat him with pipes and bats,Cummings, Judith. "The New York Times", October 30, 1974. leaving him with permanent

scars A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natu ...

on his

forehead In human anatomy, the forehead is an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp grows. The bottom of the fore ...

. In 1983, Ambassador Abdel Rahman was appointed to serve as the

's official representative to the United States, a position he held (save for a brief two-year interlude as the organization's representative in Canada between 1991–1992) until the signing of the

Declaration of Principles The Oslo I Accord or Oslo I, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or short Declaration of Principles (DOP), was an attempt in 1993 to set up a framework that would lead to the resolution of th ...

in September 1993. From 1994 to 2005, he served as chief representative of the

to the United States. As a fluent Spanish speaker, he concurrently served as the PNA's liaison to the governments of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. In addition to his official representative positions, Ambassador Abdel Rahman was an active participant in the Peace Process in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, serving as a senior political advisor to the Palestinian negotiating teams at the Madrid Conference of 1991, Wye River Conference and Camp David 2000 Summit. During his tenure in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Abdel Rahman was a frequent guest on television news programs and the college lecture circuit.

References

External links

* by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report * by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Hasan Abdel 1944 births Living people Palestinian diplomats Ambassadors of the State of Palestine to Morocco Ambassadors of the State of Palestine to the United States Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico alumni University of Puerto Rico alumni Graduate Center, CUNY alumni People from Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate