Nabil Shaath: Minister of Planning and International Cooperation

As the Bush administration looks for strategies to stem the violence in the Middle East in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Palestinian Authority is faced with difficult choices in responding to terrorism emanating from Palestinian controlled areas. The stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a year of violence have raised questions about the objectives and effectiveness of Palestinian policies. To explain how Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority are dealing with these dilemmas, Palestinian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath will speak at the Brookings Institution as part of the Leadership forum series.

Dr. Shaath has been an active member of the Palestinian negotiating team since the Oslo Accords were first signed in 1993. He has served as Minister of Planning and International Cooperation in the Palestinian Authority since 1994 and was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996. Dr. Shaath, a close adviser to Chairman Arafat, is also a member of the Fatah Central Committee. He headed the first delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations. Before joining the negotiating team, Dr. Shaath worked as a consultant to several Arab governments, including Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, on major engineering and management projects. From 1961 to 1965, Dr. Shaath taught finance and economics at the University of Pennsylvania and later at the Universities of Cairo, Alexandria, and Beirut.