Ahmad Abd al-Rahman

Ahmad Abdel Rahman (1943–2019) was a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and served in different capacities under both Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas from 1967 to 2000s.

Early life and education Abdel Rahman was born in Bayt Shanna, Ramla, Mandatory Palestine, on 12 November 1943. He obtained a degree in law from Damascus School of Law in 1969. He was elected as the secretary general of the Palestinian Union of Writers and Journalists in 1974, and his tenure ended in 2005. Abdel Rahman served as the official spokesman for the PLO between 1982 and 1994. He was a member of the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Central Council. He was appointed secretary general of the Palestinian Council of Ministers in 1996 which he held until 2003. During the same period he was also the spokesman for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Abdel Rahman's role as the PNA spokesman continued after the death of Arafat in 2004. In addition, he was one of the advisers to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Views Abdel Rahman was part of the pro-Soviet faction within the PLO in the 1970s. Later he adopted a moderate political stance.

Death Abdel Rahman died in Ramallah on 2 December 2019. Mahmoud Abbas attended his funeral ceremony held in Ramallah on 4 December.