Yasser Abed Rabbo

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the official Palestinian negotiating team and former Minister of Culture and Information, was among the first Palestinian public figures to call for historical reconciliation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel. Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Abed Rabbo engaged in the Palestinian resistance movement, co-founding the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) in 1969. That year, he became a member of the Palestinian National Council as a leader of the DFLP delegation. He was elected deputy secretary of this party. Since 1971, Abed Rabbo has served on the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee. He participated in drafting the political agenda of the PLO since 1974, including the Declaration of Independence and the Palestinian peace initiative in 1988, which called for a two-state solution and accepted UN resolution 242 as a basis for ending the conflict with Israel.

Abed Rabbo played an important role during the reunification of the PLO in 1987, after its split in 1984. After the US agreed to open dialogue with the PLO in 1988, he headed the first delegation to this dialogue. As a member of the negotiations committee, he overlooked preparations for the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in 1991. He also participated in the team that negotiated secretly for the Oslo Accords in 1993. Since 1994, he participated in all negotiations to implement the Oslo Accords and led the Palestinian delegation to the Permanent Status negotiations in 1999-2000. He also participated in the negotiations at Wye River in 1998, Camp David in 2000, and Taba in 2001. In December 2003, Abed Rabbo co-launched the Geneva Initiative with Yossi Beilin, presenting a full model agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

From 1990-2000, he headed the Palestinian Democratic Group, FIDA, a party which broke away from the DFLP and rescinded armed struggle. As Minister of Culture and Information in the first Palestinian government, Abed Rabbo advanced the legal ratification of the freedom of the press. He also established the annual “Palestine Prize for Culture” and encouraged the establishment of private radio and television stations, protecting them from government intervention. In 2001, he participated in creating the “Palestinian Peace Coalition,” which he currently heads. The PPC is a coalition which encompasses representatives of civil society as well as governmental and non-governmental figures.

Abed Rabbo obtained a B.A. in economics and political science from the American University in Cairo.