Born in 1940 in Baghdad, studied in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, founding member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in 1959, worked for the PLO after its initial establishment in Jerusalem as deputy manager of the Public Organization Dept. (1964-65), received military training at a Syrian officer's academy and joined the Palestinian Liberation Army in 1967, graduate from Damascus Military College 1967, founder and chairman of the Arab Studies Society, since 1979, in the 1980s placed repeatedly under house and city arrest, several times imprisoned, member of the Supreme Muslim Council, Jerusalem, since 1982, Palestinian spokesperson, head of the Jerusalem National Council, Palestine, head of Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Conference, head of Fatah faction in the West Bank, Arafat's chief representative in the OPT, active in developing and promoting Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, Palestinian national movement's local mediator for peace.