President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organizations (PLO)
Position:
Pro Two-State Solution
to the question "What are the solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?"
Reasoning:
"Our political objective is the ending of the occupation that has started in 1967, an independent sovereign Palestinian State and to find a just and agreed upon solution for the issue of the refugees and our strategic orientation and decision is that it is the negotiated solution that we are pursuing.
What we demand from the Israeli side, and what we expect from the Israeli side, is the cessation of aggression against our Palestinian people, and this necessitates the return to stability and order and security and we will fulfil all our commitments to achieve this purpose, and we expect from the Israeli side to stop the building of the wall, to stop the expansion of the settlements, and to release political Palestinian prisoners. All those steps would encourage the Palestinian people to pursue supporting progress on that level."
Tony Blair's press conference with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Dec. 22, 2004
Experts
Members of Congress, Ambassadors, Counsul Generals, heads of government, heads of major government organizations, members of legislative bodies, and PhD's with significant involvement in, or related to, the Palestinian - Israeli conflict. [Note: Experts definition varies by site]
Involvement and Affiliations:
Elected President of the Palestinian Authority, and sworn in on Jan. 15, 2005
Elected Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Named first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mar. 2003, resigned Sep. 6, 2003
Signed the Oslo Interim Peace Agreement, 1995
Signed the Oslo Declaration of Principles, 1993
Headed the PLO Department for National and International Relations, since 1980
