PEACE PROCESS ARAB PLAYERS

PEACE PROCESS MAIN PLAYERS (ARABS)

Mahmoud Abbas (or Abu Mazen)

Mahmoud Abbas -- also known as Abu Mazen -- claimed victory in the Palestinian elections of January 2005 to replace the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who died in November 2004. Abbas was Arafat's chief lieutenant and is secretary-general of the PLO's executive committee. A veteran of peace negotiations, he was one of the key players in the secret talks that led to the 1993 Oslo accords and is the former PLO ambassador to Moscow. Abbas met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in Washington in 2001 while he was in the United States for medical treatment. In March 2003, he reluctantly agreed to become the first Palestinian prime minister but quit after four months in office, accusing Arafat of undermining his authority by refusing to give him control of the Palestinian Authority's security organizations.

Abbas was born in 1935 in the village of Saffed.

Abdullah II King of Jordan.

Abdullah II became king of Jordan in February 1999 after the death of his father, King Hussein, who ruled the country for 47 years. Hussein forged a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.Despite Jordan's good relationship with Israel, Abdullah must deal with pressure from a citizenry that is 70 percent Palestinian.Abdullah has urged that Jerusalem be declared an "open city" where West Jerusalem would become the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Apparently following the footsteps of his father, Abdullah also has played the role of mediator on other matters in the region, working behind the scenes to try to restart talks between Israel and Syria.

Bashar Assad

Syrian president British-educated ophthalmologist Bashar Assad assumed the leadership of Syria with the death of his father, President Hafez Assad, in June 2000. Hafez Assad ruled for 30 years by tyranny; his son enters the political arena with no firm power base. Bashar Assad also has been handed a stagnant economy and meager infrastructure.

It is unclear if Bashar Assad will continue his father's uncompromising line in peace negotiations with Israel, or adopt a more pragmatic approach to the long-running border disputes between the two countries.Assad has been vocal, however, in his support for the Palestinians and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, pledging to coordinate peace efforts with the Palestinians.

Hosni Mubarak

Egyptian president Long an important patron of the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Mubarak was also quick to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak after he won office in May 1999.

Ahmed Qorei (or Abu Ala'a)

Ahmed Qorei, also called Abu Ala'a, is the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and has held the post since the council was created in 1996. Under the Palestinian constitution, he takes over for 60 days if Arafat dies or is incapacitated while new elections are set up. The people then vote for a new leader.

Qorei was a PLO negotiator during the secret 1993 talks with Israel in Norway, the talks that produced the Oslo peace accords. Qorei also was a key player in the eventually failed final status peace talks at Camp David in July 2000 and in Taba in January 2001. He recently had a prominent role in meetings with United States Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni. In an interview with the Egyptian magazine Al-Mussawar published in February 2002, Arafat said that in the event he couldn't fulfill his duties, the council speaker would take over as Palestinian Authority president until new elections are held. Qorei was born in Jerusalem in 1937.

Mohammed Dahlan

Mohammed Dahlan is the head of Palestinian preventive security in Gaza and a veteran of talks with his Israeli security counterparts. He speaks fluent Hebrew, much of which he learned during the time spent in Israeli prisons. He was deported and went to Tunis to join the Palestinian leadership as it sought to orchestrate the first intifada -- the uprising against Israeli military forces the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank between 1987 and 1993. Considered a protege of the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, he was a negotiator at the United States-sponsored peace talks at Camp David in 2000.

Dahlan was born in 1961 in Gaza.

Jibril Rajoub

Jibril Rajoub is head of Palestinian preventive security in the West Bank. He also has been involved in negotiations on security issues with the Israelis. That has given him excellent contacts not only with his counterparts in Israeli security but also with the CIA, which has sporadically been overseeing Israeli-Palestinian security contacts.

Like many Palestinians of his generation, he has spent time in Israeli prisons (17 years) and is fluent in Hebrew. Deported by Israel, he followed the PLO leadership into exile in Tunis and worked on coordinating the first intifada. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said in a February 2002 interview with the Egyptian magazine Al-Mussawar that Rajoub and Dahlan are "close to my heart." Rajoub was born in 1953 in the West Bank.

Saeb Erakat

Erakat is the minister of local governments for the Palestinian Authority and the chief negotiator for the Palestinians in negotiations with the Israelis. Erakat was born in Jerusalem in 1955. He received a master's degree in political science from the University of San Francisco and a doctorate in peace studies from England's Bradford University.

Erakat taught political science at An-Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus and was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996.

Marwan Barghouti

Barghouti is the leader of Fatah in the West Bank. Considered a charismatic, popular and dynamic speaker, he emerged as an influential leader during the first Palestinian intifada from 1987 to 1993. Barghouti has been accused by Israel of having links to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of the Fatah movement which has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Israel and been named as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

Barghouti, considered close to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was arrested on April 15, 2002, by the Israel Defense Forces in Ramallah during Israel's self-described campaign to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure of Palestinian militants in the West Bank. He was convicted in Israel of planning or participating in terrorist attacks on Israelis and is now serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison. Barghouti was born in 1959 in the West Bank.

Nabil Shaath

Shaath is minister of planning and international cooperation for the Palestinian Authority. He plays an important role in the Palestinian Authority's relations with the West.


PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

Palestinian refugees in Mideast countries and nearby areas Note: Two U.N. refugee organizations track the number of Palestinian refugees -- those seeking asylum in other countries or those living in traditional refugee camps. Many other Palestinians, whom the United Nations does not classify as refugees, have integrated into new societies and may hold passports from other countries.

It is therefore difficult to determine an accurate population count of Palestinians living around the world. During 2000, some 900 Palestinians applied for asylum in more than 40 countries, with the highest number of applicants received by Denmark (260) and Australia (130). **Figures from 1998 *Figures not available Source: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine