Riyad al-Maliki
{{Short description|Palestinian politician}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{BLP sources|date = January 2011}}
{{use dmy dates |date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Riyad al-Maliki
| image = Riyad al-Maliki in 2024 (cropped).jpg
| caption = al-Maliki in 2024
| office = Minister of Foreign Affairs
| president = Mahmoud Abbas
| term_start = July 2007*
| term_end =
| predecessor = Salam Fayyad
| successor =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|5|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = Bethlehem, West Bank
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = Independent
| alma_mater = Pontifical Xavierian University
American University
| footnotes =
| native_name = {{Nobold|رياض المالكي}}
| native_name_lang = ar
}}
Riyad al-Maliki ({{langx|ar|رياض المالكي}}; born 31 May 1955) is a Palestinian politician and former Minister of Information, government spokesperson, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the Palestinian National Authority in its 12th government. He also resumed office as Foreign Affairs Minister in the current 13th government.
Biography
He was born on 31 May 1955 in Bethlehem,{{Cite web |website=PASSIA |title=MALKI, RIAD (-) |url=http://passia.org/personalities/127 |access-date=2023-12-02}} and earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Pontifical Xavierian University in Colombia in 1978{{cite web |url=http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-3006304 |title=No pensé regresar como Canciller |website=Periodico El Tiempo |first=Eduard |last=Soto Guerrero |date=9 July 2008 |access-date=4 July 2024 |language=es}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnX140JHieg |publisher=Periodico El Tiempo |via=YouTube |title=El canciller palestino es egresado de la Javeriana |language=es |date=10 July 2008 |access-date=4 July 2024}} and a PhD in civil engineering at the American University.{{cite web |url=http://www.bicom.org.uk/context/biographies/palestinian-figures/riad-al-maliki |title=Al-Maliki Riad|website=Britain Israel Research and Communications Centre |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20101223132308/http://www.bicom.org.uk/context/biographies/palestinian-figures/riad-al-maliki |archive-date=23 December 2010}}
He started working as a lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department of Birzeit University in 1981 and served as the head of the department from 1993 to 1996.{{Cite web |date=December 2, 2023 |website=State of Palestine. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates |title=Minister |url=http://www.mofa.pna.ps/en-us/theministry/minister |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231010091537/https://www.mofa.pna.ps/en-us/theministry/minister |archive-date=10 October 2023}} He also founded and headed Panorama, the Palestinian Center for the Dissemination of Democracy and Community Development, an active non-governmental organization. He also served as spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
He was awarded the European Peace Prize in 2000 in Copenhagen and the Italian Peace Prize (Lombardi) in 2005. He is the coordinator of the Arab Program to Support and Develop Democracy, which is an alliance of more than 12 civil society institutions. He is also a visiting professor in several European universities.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6761613.stm |title=Profiles: Palestinian interim cabinet |website=BBC News |date=17 June 2007 |access-date=4 July 2024}}
In 2007, al-Maliki was one of three government ministers who investigated the circumstances of Palestinians who were stranded on the Egyptian side of the border along the Gaza Strip, because the only border crossing available to them was Israeli-controlled and they feared interrogation or arrest.{{cite book |author=Frisch, Hillel |title=The Palestinian military: between militias and armies |page=176 |publisher=Routledge |date=2008}}
His VIP travel card was confiscated by Israeli border security in 2021 as per the instructions of Benjamin Netanyahu. This was done after he returned from a meeting of the International Criminal Court. The Palestinians had asked the International Court of Justice for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian Territories.{{Cite web |agency=Reuters |date=2023-01-08 |title=Israel takes Palestinian FM's VIP pass in world court flap |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1730574 |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:People from Bethlehem
Category:Pontificia Universidad Javeriana alumni
Category:American University alumni
Category:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members
Category:Academic staff of Birzeit University
Category:Foreign ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Category:Government ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Category:Government ministers of Palestine
Category:Palestinian civil engineers
Category:20th-century engineers
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