Palestinian politician; born in 1946 in Ramallah; member of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), 1967-72; member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in Beirut, 1967-70; worked at the Palestinian Information Office, Beirut, 1968-70; graduate from American University of Beirut (M.A., English literature, 1970); Professor of English Literature at Birzeit University since 1974; founding member and director of the Legal Aid Committee since 1974; Ph.D., English Literature, at University of Virginia, USA, 1981; Dean of Arts at Birzeit University 1986-90; member of the Union of Palestinian Writers; former member of Palestinian steering committee in the peace process and Palestinian delegation spokesperson for the negotiations at the Madrid and Washington peace talks; presented the Palestinian case in a moderate pragmatic way; contributed to development of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue; founder and head (1993-1995) of the Independent Palestinian Citizen's Rights Commission.