Yasser Abbas
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{{Short description|Palestinian-Canadian businessman (born 1962)}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
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| birth_name = Yasser Mahmoud Reda Abbas
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|02|08|df=y}}
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| nationality = Palestinian-Canadian
| education = Washington State University
| occupation = Businessman
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| spouse = {{marriage|Malak Jaafar|2015}}
| parents = Mahmoud Abbas
Amina Abbas
| children = 3
| website =
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Yasser Abbas ({{langx|ar|ياسر عباس}}; born 8 February 1962) is a Palestinian-Canadian multi millionaire businessman, and the son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.{{cite web|last=Roberts |first=Joel |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-proposes-mideast-trade-zone/ |title=U.S. Proposes Mideast Trade Zone |publisher=CBS News |date=2003-06-23 |access-date=2016-02-04}} His conspicuous wealth has caused controversy in the Palestinian Territories.{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/05/the_brothers_abbas |title=The Brothers Abbas |publisher=Foreign Policy |date=2012-06-05 |access-date=2016-02-04}}{{cite news|last=Ross|first=Oakland|authorlink=Oakland Ross|title=Canadian links us to Palestinian political elite|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2009/04/27/canadian_links_us_to_palestinian_political_elite.html|date=4 April 2009|access-date=4 February 2016|work=Toronto Star}}
Early life
Yasser Mahmoud Reda Abbas{{cite news|last=Newman |first=Marissa |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbass-son-highlighted-in-palestinian-corruption-claims/ |title=Abbas's son highlighted in Palestinian corruption claims |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=2015-08-13 |access-date=2016-02-04}} is the second of three sons of Mahmoud Abbas and his wife Amina. He was named in honor of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.{{cite web |url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/123963 |title=Americanchronicle.com |website=Americanchronicle.com |access-date=2016-02-04 |archive-date=2012-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609112248/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/123963 |url-status=dead }} In 1983, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Washington State University.
Career
Abbas claims that his wealth comes from his own businesses. However Mohammed Rachid, a former economic advisor to Yasser Arafat, has accused Abbas' father of taking $100 million from the Palestinian government for himself.The Brothers Abbas; Jonathan Schanzer; Foreign Policy; June 5, 2012
In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Abbas lived in Montreal, Canada, where he had a company which was mainly involved in renovating apartment buildings, and was able to obtain Canadian citizenship.
Abbas worked for a number of contracting firms from the Persian Gulf from the 1980s until he left to Ramallah to start his own company in 1997. Abbas is the owner of Falcon Tobacco, the company that controls all American-made cigarette sales in all Palestinian territories. Abbas also is the chairman of the Falcon Holding Group, a Palestinian investment firm that owns Falcon Electric Mechanical Contracting Company (FEMC).Oakland Ross, "Canadian links us to Palestinian political elite". Toronto Star April 27, 2009. However, FEMC's success didn't come without the assistance from the U.S. government: The company had been rewarded a contract for $1.89 million from the U.S. government during the Iraq war to build a sewage system in the town of Hebron.Firms run by President Abbas's sons get U.S. contracts; Adam Entous; Reuters; April 22, 2009
As well as his tobacco business, Abbas is the head of an insurance company, a civil engineering firm and a real-estate business, all of which are headquartered in Ramallah, effectively the capital of the West Bank.
Together with his brother, Tariq Abbas, he also owns an advertising agency in the West Bank.
In October 2013, a judge dismissed a libel case brought by Abbas against Jonathan Schanzer, a political analyst and vice president of the Washington DC–based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In June 2012, Schanzer had written an online opinion piece for Foreign Policy magazine, which questioned the legitimacy of the wealth of President Mahmoud Abbas's two sons (Yasser and Tariq).{{cite news|title=American Analyst 'Grateful' for Dismissal of Libel Case Brought by Son of Mahmoud Abbas|url=http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/10/03/american-analyst-grateful-for-dismissal-of-libel-case-brought-by-son-of-mahmoud-abbas/#|access-date=4 February 2016|work=The Algemeiner|date=3 October 2013}}
In August 2015, he was reported to be "tied to a corruption scandal" involving the misuse of public funds, and had paid $50,000 to acquire apartments in a luxury complex in Ramallah, for which Bahrain's foreign minister had been asked for $4 million to fund the private complex for Palestinian officials.{{cite news|title=Abbas's son highlighted in Palestinian corruption claims|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbass-son-highlighted-in-palestinian-corruption-claims/|access-date=5 February 2016|work=The Times of Israel|date=13 August 2015}}
Personal life
Abbas has two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage. In 2015, he married a Lebanese BBC Arabic Television presenter, Malak Jaafar.
References
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Category:21st-century Palestinian businesspeople
Category:21st-century Canadian businesspeople
Category:Canadian people of Palestinian descent
Category:Washington State University alumni
Category:Children of presidents