Yasser Abed Rabbo

Yasser Abed Rabbo also known by his kunya, Abu Bashar (born 1944) is a Palestinian politician and a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee.

Biography Early life and career Born in Jaffa in 1944, Abed Rabbo became a Palestinian refugee as a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He later attended the American University in Cairo where he graduated with an MA in economics and political science.

Leftist activism and the PLO Yasser Abed Rabbo started his political career in the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), a pan-Arabist organization. When the Palestinian branch of the ANM evolved in 1967 into the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), he became one of its leaders. In 1968, a leftist faction of the PFLP led by Nayef Hawatmeh split from the movement and formed the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Abed Rabbo became a member of the DFLP's politburo and was the organization's second most influential figure, after Hawatmeh. He became the most senior member of the DFLP to serve on the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive councils.

Between 1977 and 1994, Abed Rabbo served as the head of the PLO's Information Department. During the 1980s, Abed Rabbo became closely allied with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and supported his attempts to negotiate a two-state solution. Arafat appointed him the PLO's representative in the 1988–1990 talks with the United States in Tunis. By then, relations between Abed Rabbo and Hawatmeh deteriorated. The two disagreed about Abed Rabbo's participation in Arafat's diplomacy regarding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the extent of the DFLP's political activities in Jordan, where Hawatmeh was based. Violent clashes between their supporters and Abed formed a separate faction of the DFLP in 1991, although he continued to use the DFLP's name. leaving the Marxist–Leninist platform of the DFLP. Abed Rabbo became FIDA's representative on the PLO Executive Committee. Rabbo cautiously supported the 1993 Oslo Accords) between the PLO and Israel. The latter, which he negotiated with Yossi Beilin, was condemned by both the Israelis and Palestinians, the latter of whom particularly condemned Abed Rabbo's alleged relinquishment of the Palestinian refugees' right of return. According to Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group, Abbas was less worried about a coup by Abed Rabbo, but was threatened by Abed Rabbo's perceived alliance with Abbas's rivals Dahlan and former prime minister Salam Fayyad. Abed Rabbo denied links with Dahlan, dismissing rumors of a conspiracy as "hallucinations". He also insists that he was not dismissed from the Executive Committee body. Abed Rabbo was replaced by senior Abbas aide Saeb Erakat.