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Maen Rashid Areikat was born October 12, 1960 in Jericho in the West Bank, Palestine. Prior to his appointment to Washington, Mr. Areikat was bestowed the rank of Ambassador by Chairman of the PLO and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Maen Areikat served for 11 years at the Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) of the PLO in Ramallah, most recently as its Deputy Head and Coordinator-General (2008-2009). Areikat first joined NAD in 1998, when it was headed by current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and served as its Director-General until March 2008. In addition to overseeing NAD’s day-to-day operations, Mr. Areikat was responsible for overseeing the work of the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), which provided legal, policy, communication and technical support to Palestinian Negotiating Teams and to the Palestinian Leadership. Prior to his service at NAD, Chief Representative Areikat spent six years at Orient House (1993-1998), the headquarters of the PLO in Jerusalem and of the Palestinian Negotiating Team to the Madrid peace talks.

While at Orient House, he served as spokesperson for the late Mr. Faisal Husseini, former PLO Executive Committee member in charge of Jerusalem Affairs, and later as Desk Officer for the U.S., Canada, Australia and South Africa in Orient House’s International Relations Department. Chief Representative Areikat previously took part in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations at Beit Hanoun/Erez in Gaza and Taba in Egypt in 1996, in Jerusalem in 1997 and was an official member of the Palestinian delegation at the Wye River negotiations in 1998. During the course of his career, Ambassador Areikat has traveled extensively throughout the region and abroad, including numerous official visits to Washington, DC and several European capitals, and has participated in various conferences and symposiums on the Middle East peace process and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Ambassador Areikat earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Arizona State University (ASU) in 1983 and his MBA in management from Western International University in 1987. He received his diplomatic training at the Ministry of External Affairs in Ottawa, Canada in 1993 and 1994, and completed a training course in good governance at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2001. Ambassador Areikat is joined in Washington by his wife Jumana and their three boys, Rashid (15 years), Saif (12 years) and Amr (9 years).…

Permanent Observer Mission to the UN
http://www.un.int/palestine/index.shtml

Negotiations Affairs Department
http://www.nad-plo.org/

PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY

Office of the President (Arabic Only)
http://president.ps/

Office of the Prime Minister
http://www.palestinecabinet.gov.ps/default.aspx?Lang=en

Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities
www.travelpalestine.ps
www.visitpalestine.ps

Financial and Administrative Control Bureau (Arabic Only)
http://www.facb.gov.ps/

Orient House
http://www.orienthouse.org/

Palestine Monetary Authority
http://www.pma-palestine.org/

Palestine Standards Institution (Arabic Only)
http://www.psi.gov.ps/Default.aspx

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS)
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/

Palestinian Economic Council for Development & Reconstruction (PECDAR)
http://www.pecdar.org/

Palestinian Energy & Environment Research Center (PEC)
http://www.perc.ps/

Palestinian Industrial Estate & Free Zone Authority (Arabic Only)
http://www.piefza.org/

Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA)
http://www.pipa.gov.ps/

Palestine Medical Council (Arabic Only)
http://www.pmc.ps/

Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture & Science
http://www.pncecs.org/eng/

Central Election Commission – Palestine
http://www.pal-cec.org/english.aspx

Palestinian Housing Council
http://www.phc-pal.org/english/index.html

HUMAN RIGHTS / LEGAL ORGANIZATIONS

Adalah
http://www.adalah.org/eng/index.php

Addameer Prisoners’ Support & Human Rights Association
http://www.addameer.org/index_eng.html

Alternative Information Center
http://www.alternativenews.org/

Americans for Peace Now
http://peacenow.org/

Amnesty International
www.amnesty.org/

Arab Association for Human Rights
http://www.arabhra.org/HRA/Pages/Index.aspx?Language=2

Badil
http://www.badil.org/

B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp

Campaign for the Right to Enter
http://www.righttoenter.ps/

Citizens’ Rights Center the Occupied Palestinian Territory
http://www.crcatf-r.com/

Defense for Children International / Palestine Section
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/home.cfm

Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights
http://www.ensancenter.org/english/index.html

Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
http://www.hamoked.org.il/index_en.asp

Al-Haq
http://www.alhaq.org/

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/

Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
http://www.icahd.org/eng/

Jerusalem Center for Democracy and Human Rights
http://www.jcdhr.ps/eng/index.html

Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights
http://www.jcser.org/

Jerusalem Legal Aid & Human Rights Center
http://www.mosaada.org/eng/index.php

Kav La’Oved: Worker’s Hotline
http://www.kavlaoved.org.il/default_eng.asp

Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights
http://www.mezan.org/en/

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/

Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession
http://www.musawa.ps/

Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group
http://www.phrmg.org/

Palestinian Prisoners Club
http://ppsmo.org/epps/

Physicians for Human Rights
http://www.phr.org.il/default.asp?PageID=4

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
http://www.stoptorture.org.il/en

Rabbis for Human Rights
http://www.rhr.org.il/index.php?language=en

Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
http://www.rchrs.org/

Yesh Din for Human Rights
http://www.yesh-din.org/site/index.php?page=index&lang=en&id=

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Applied Research Institute- Jerusalem
http://www.arij.org/

Gaza Mental Health Clinic
www.gcmhp.net

The International Center of Bethlehm
http://www.annadwa.org/Con_Speeches.htm

The Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC)
http://www.pmrs.ps/content/about/main.html

El-Usra Physiotherapy Center (Arabic Only)
http://www.inash.org/

MEDIA OUTLETS:

WAFA (Palestine News Agency)
http://english.wafa.ps/

Ma’an News Agency
www.maannews.net/eng

Palestine Media Center
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/inside.asp?cat=1

Institute For Middle East Understanding
http://www.imeu.net/

Palestine Note
http://palestinenote.com/

Electronic Intifada
http://electronicintifada.net/

Al Jazeera (English)
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/

Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East

Foreign Policy Magazine / Middle East Channel
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/

Haaretz (English)
www.haaretz.com

The Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/

Mondoweiss
http://mondoweiss.net/

The Jewish Daily Forward
http://www.forward.com/

Tikkun
http://www.tikkun.org/

UNIVERSITIES / EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Bir Zeit
www.birzeit.edu

University of Bethlehem
www.bethlehem.edu

An-Najah University
www.najah.edu

Arab American University of Jenin
www.aauj.edu/AAUJ_site/index

Al Quds
www.alquds.edu/

Al Quds Open University
http://www.qou.edu/englishIndexPage.do

Hebron University
www.hebron.edu/

Palestine Polytechnic Institute
http://www.ppu.edu/

Al-Azhar (Gaza) (Arabic Only)
http://www.alazhar.edu.ps/arabic/

ARTS & CULTURE

Al-Harah Theater
http://www.alharah.org/

Al-Liqa Center for Religious and Heritage Studies in the Holy Land (Arabic Only)
http://www.al-liqacenter.org.ps/arabic/p_materials/newsletter/9A.php

Al-Kasaba Theatre and Cinemateque
http://www.alkasaba.org/

Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem
http://www.almamalfoundation.org/

A.M. Qattan Foundation
http://www.qattanfoundation.org/en/index.asp

Artas Folklore Center
http://www.palestine-family.net/index.php?nav=223-222

Arts & Crafts Village Gaza
http://www.gazavillage.org/

Basma Society for Culture and Arts
http://www.basmaorg.org/

Beit Ula Cultural Center
http://www.bucc.ps/BUCCEng/index.htm

Bethlehem Academy of Music
http://www.pal-bam.org/

The Culture and Free Thought Association
http://www.cfta-ps.org/En/Default.aspx

The Diyar Consortium
http://www.diyar-consortium.org/

The Freedom Theatre
http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/

The Friends International Center in Ramallah
http://www.ramallahquakers.org/

El-Funoun Dance Troupe
http://www.el-funoun.org/

Ghirass Cultural Center
http://www.ghirass.org/en/

Hawwa Society for Culture & Arts
http://www.hawwa.org/home-en.htm

Ibaa Cultural Center
http://www.dheisheh-ibdaa.net/

International Academy of Art Palestine
http://www.artacademy.ps/english/index.html

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre
http://www.sakakini.org/

Lajee Center
http://www.lajee.org/english/main.cfm

Palestinian ART Court: Alhoash
http://www.alhoashgallery.org/

Palestinian Heritage Center
http://www.palestinianheritagecenter.com/

Palestinian Institute for National Guidance
http://www.ping-palestine.org/english/index.html

Popular Art Centre
http://www.popularartcentre.org/

Qalifah Theatre
http://www.qafilah.net/index.html

Sabreen Association for Artistic Development
http://www.sabreen.org/

Theatre Day Productions
http://www.theatreday.org/page1.html

Yabous Productions
http://www.yabous.org/

Young Artists Forum
http://www.yaf.org.ps/YAF/website/index/overview.php…

The General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S. received its current status in 2010. At the time of establishing initial relations in 1978, the mission was known as the Palestine Information Center. In 1988 it became the Palestine Affairs Center. Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat has been serving as the Chief Representative of the Delegation since 2009.

Previously, Hatem Hussieni (1978-1982), Hassan Abdel Rahaman (1982-1991), Anees Barghouti (1991-1993), and Afif Safieh (2005-2009) led the mission.…