Samir Ghawshah

Dr.Samir Ghawshah (also Sameer Ghawsha, Ghosha, Ghosheh and other variants), is a Palestinianpolitician and militia leader.

Ghawshah was born in Jerusalemin 1940, and was educated as a dentist. From 1974, he heads the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front(PPSF), a minor leftistfaction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization(PLO) with Ba'thisttendencies. It was founded in the West Bankand was originally close to Yassir Arafat's Fatahmovement. However, frequently in opposition to Arafat's policies (for example in the Rejectionist Front), it also received backing from a number of Arabgovernments, especially Syriaand Libya.

The PPSF broke apart when talksbetween Israeland Palestinians began in Madridin 1991, with Ghawshah heading the more moderate faction and returning to the favor of Arafat. Ghawshah's PPSF accepted the Oslo Agreementand he served as Minister of Labor in the resulting Palestinian National Authority(PNA) from 1994, but resigned after voting against the Hebron redeployment agreementin January 1997. He published his resignation in a letter, complaining of irregularities in the PNA's system of governance, and of apparent examples of corruption[1]. He continued to serve as Minister without Portfolio, but from 1999 had no ministerial post. He was present at the Camp David negotiationsof 2000 as an adviser to Yassir Arafat, and briefly returned as Minister for Jerusalem in the PNA between late October 2002 and April 2003. He is the PPSF's representative on the PLO's Executive Committee, last elected in 1996.

External links

• PPSF HomepageBiography of Samir Ghowshah (Arabic)

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir+Ghawshah Wikipedia article Samir Ghawshah.