Leila Shahid (born in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in 1949) is a Palestinian diplomat. She was the first woman ambassador of Palestine, serving 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 ...

in Ireland in 1989, in The Netherlands in 1990, then serving the PA in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where she had taken office in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1993. From 2006 to 2014, she was the General Delegate of Palestine to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg. She is the daughter of

Munib Shahid Munib Shahid (1908-1973) was Chairman of Hematology and Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine of the American University of Beirut. He built the hematology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, a development that increased research output significan ...

and

Serene Husseini Shahid Serene Husseini Shahid ( ar, سيرين حُسيني شهيد, French: Sirine Husseini Shahid; 1920–2008) was born in Jerusalem as a member of the influential Husayni family. Her father was Jamal al-Husayni (himself a second cousin of the then ...

and thus related to the

Al-Husayni Husayni ( ar, الحسيني also spelled Husseini) is the name of a prominent Palestinian Arab clan formerly based in Jerusalem, which claims descent from Husayn ibn Ali (the son of Ali). The Husaynis follow the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, ...

clan. Shahid's parents were from Acre and Jerusalem, but she grew up with her two sisters in exile in Lebanon. After studying anthropology and psychology at the American University of Beirut, Leila worked in the Palestinian refugee camps until 1974 when she began her doctorate in anthropology in Paris, where she met

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...

. In 1976 she was elected president of the Union of Palestinian students in France. In September 1982, Shahid and Jean Genet went to Beirut. They arrived during the

Sabra and Shatila massacre The Sabra and Shatila massacre (also known as the Sabra and Chatila massacre) was the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanes ...

s. Genet's account was published in "La revue d'études palestiniennes", in an article entitled Quatre heures à Chatila (Four Hours at Chatila) -- Catherine Biscovitch's film "Dancing Among the Dead" was based on this article by Genet. In 2004, she was with Palestinian leader

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

during his final days. She was a longtime director of "La revue d'études palestiniennes" (The Review of Palestinian Studies), while serving as a board member right now. The

Russell Tribunal The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell–Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private People's Tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and ...

on Palestine was established in response to a call by Leila Shahid and

Ken Coates Kenneth Sidney Coates (16 September 1930 – 27 June 2010) was a British politician and writer. He chaired the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and edited ''The Spokesman'', the BRPF magazine launched in March 1970. He was a Labour Party Memb ...

(Chairperson of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation), Nurit Peled (Israeli, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Speech 2001). Though not a Baha'i, she is the great-great granddaughter of the Baha'i prophet Baha'u'llah through her father, who was a grandson of Abdu'l-Baha. Her father was

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

from the Baha'i Faith for opposition to

Shoghi Effendi Shoghí Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...

.Momen, Moojan. "Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit." p. 290. http://irfancolloquia.org/pdf/lights10_momen.pdf

References

1949 births Living people Palestinian women in politics Al-Husayni family Palestine Liberation Organization members Ambassadors of the State of Palestine to Denmark Ambassadors of the State of Palestine to Ireland Ambassadors of the State of Palestine to the Netherlands Ambassadors of the State of Palestine to France Palestinian women ambassadors {{Palestine-politician-stub