Rawhi Fattouh

Born in Rafah, Gaza, in Aug. 1949 to a refugee family originally from Borka, near Asdod; primary and preparatory education from a UNRWA school in Rafah (1956-65), then attended a high school in Bir Saba' for two years but was interrupted by the 1967 War (graduated later from a secondary school in Zarqa, Jordan, in 1970); joined Fateh in 1968 and became active in its Al-'Asifa forces; received military training and graduated as a lieutenant; was involved in Fateh operations in Syria after 1973; also active in the Fateh's student office in Syria, serving as its Sec.-Gen. in 1974-75; also member (1974-75) and Chairman (1976-78) of the Administrative Committee of the GUPS in Syria as well as Exec. Committee member from 1978-84; Sec.-Gen. of the Student's Organization in Syria from 1975-79; was arrested by the Syrian government in the late 1970s for almost a year; earned a BA in English Literature from Damascus University in 1979; PNC member since 1983; Steering Committee member of Fateh's Mobilization and Organization Office since 1984; was elected member to the Fateh Revolutionary Council in 1989; served as Deputy of the General Commissioner of the People's Organizational Office in 1989; returned to Gaza in 1994 and was in charge of supervising Fateh's organizational work (tanzim) in Palestine until 1997; was elected PLC member (Fateh) in the Jan. 1996 elections for the Rafah district in Gaza Strip and elected Sec.-Gen. of the PLC (until Nov. 2003); serves as Chairman of the Higher Supervisory Committee of Fateh since 1998; was a Board of Trustees member of Al-Azhar University in Gaza from 1999-2000; continued his studies and earned an MA in Political Science from the Al-Alam University, US, in 2002; was appointed PA Minister of Agriculture in the Nov. 2003 cabinet of PM Ahmed Qrei'a (until 10 March 2004 when he resigned to campaign as PLC speaker); was nominated by Fateh as candidate for the position of PLC Speaker and elected to that post on 10 March 2004; in accordance with the law, was sworn in as interim Pres. of the PA following Yasser Arafat's death on 11 Nov. 2004 (until 15 Jan. 2005); resumed his post as PLC speaker on 16 Jan. 2005 (until after the Jan. 2006 PLC elections); was appointed adviser to Pres. Mahmoud Abbas in 2006.

Source: Passia Org.
and others