Mahdi Abdul Hadi
Chairman, The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of
Ramallah, Palestine
Mahdi Abdul Hadi is the Chairman and founder (1987) of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA). Abdul Hadi is an occasional guest lecturer on Palestinian issues at local colleges, universities and institutions. He is a member of various Palestinian bodies, including the Jerusalem Arab Council in Jerusalem, the Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace in Ramallah, and the Association of Palestinian Policy Research Institutes (APPRI), among others. Abdul Hadi is closely involved with a variety of international organizations: he is a fellow of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University (1985); fellow of the Salzburg International Seminar (1986); member of the Black Sea University Foundation, Bucharest (1990), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, the EuroMesco network, and the Arab Social Science Research Network (ASSR). Mahdi is the cofounder and editor of Al-Fajr daily newspaper (1972-74); co-founder and General Secretary of the Council for Higher Education in the West Bank (1977-80); and founder and elected president of the Arab Thought Forum in Jerusalem (1977-81). He is the author of: Dialogue on Jerusalem (1998).