Mahdi Abdul Hadi

'Mahdi Abdul Hadi Ph.D. from the School of Peace Studies at Bradford University, UK (1984);

"Head and founder (1987) of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA), Jerusalem. PASSIA is an independent, non-profit Palestinian institution and is not affiliated with any government, political party or organization. It undertakes research on the Question of Palestine and its relationship to international affairs. Ongoing and current projects include educational seminar programs in international affairs, which have included seminars on Strategy and Security, Conflict Resolution and Diplomacy, The European Union, Foreign Policies of Arab States, The US and Canada and Japan, Palestine and the Middle East; a Research Studies Program on Palestinian issues of concern and with a focus on the question of Jerusalem; a Roundtable Meeting Program to foster dialogue among Palestinians as well as with Israeli, regional and international counterparts; and a Civil Society Empowerment Project consisting of training programs on policy analysis, strategic planning and media and communications skills.

"Occasional (guest) lecturer on Palestinian issues at local colleges, universities and institutions; 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; closely involved with a variety of international organizations; 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).

"Co-founder 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); founder and elected president of the Arab Thought Forum in Jerusalem (1977-81); special advisor to the Ministry of Occupied Land Affairs, Amman, Jordan (1985-86); member of the Arab Thought Forum headed by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal in Amman, Jordan (2002)."