Azzam al-Ahmad

Azzam al-Ahmad (Arabic: عزام الأحمد; born 24 November 1947)^[1][2][3][4] is a Palestinian politician, economist and diplomat. He holds a BA in economics from Baghdad University and has held various significant positions throughout his career. He was the head of the From 1971 to 1974, he served as the head of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in Ba'athist Iraq, later becoming the deputy head of the GUPS Executive Committee from 1974 to 1980.

Azzam al-Ahmad
عزام الأحمد
Al-Ahmad in 2013
Deputy Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority
In office 17 March 2007 – 14 June 2007
President	Mahmoud Abbas
Prime Minister	Ismail Haniyeh
Preceded by	Nasser al-Shaer
Succeeded by	Ziad Abu Amr (2013, for political affairs) Mohammad Mustafa (2013, for economic affairs)
Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology
In office 12 November 2003 – 24 February 2005
President	Yasser Arafat Mahmoud Abbas
Prime Minister	Ahmed Qurei
Preceded by	Abdul Rahman Hamad
Succeeded by	Sabri Saydam
In office 29 October 2002 – 6 October 2003
President	Yasser Arafat
Prime Minister	Mahmoud Abbas
Preceded by	Mitri Abu Eita
Succeeded by	Abdul Rahman Hamad
Minister of Public Works and Housing
In office 9 June 2002 – 29 October 2002
President	Yasser Arafat
Preceded by	Abdel Rahman Tawfiq Abdel Hadi Hamad
Succeeded by	Hamdan Ashou
Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Jenin Governorate
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 March 1996
Ambassador of the Palestine Liberation Organization to Iraq
In office 1979–1994
President	Yasser Arafat
Preceded by	Abdullah Al-Awad (Chargé d'affaires)
Personal details
Born	Azzam Najeeb Mustafa Al-Ahmad (1947-11-24) 24 November 1947 (age 77) Rummanah, Jenin, Mandatory Palestine
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Fatah
Alma mater	Baghdad University (BA)
Occupation	Politician

Al-Ahmad was the Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to Iraq from 1979 to 1994 and has been a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council since 1989. He was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2006 as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, representing the Jenin Governorate.^[5]

On 13 October 2022 he became one of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement signatories.^[6][7]

Early life and family

Al-Ahmad was born in the village of Rummanah, located in north of Jenin. In 1968, His father, Najeeb al-Ahmad, was deported across the Jordan River by the Israeli Army after its occupation of the West Bank. while in exile in Amman after 1967, Najeeb and his family of nine children found fertile grounds for their cause and political activities. Soon after deportation, Najeeb became a prominent member of the Jordanian parliament. Azzam al-Ahmad graduated from high school and joined the Syrian universities but later moved to Baghdad with the coming of the Ba'ath party to power in Iraq in 1969 as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.