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Nasser al-Qudwa

Nasser al-Qudwa is a former foreign minister and a nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (Muhammad Nasser) Jarir Noman Al-Qudwa was born in the city of Khan Yunis on April 16, 1953. He is the nephew of the late President Yasser Arafat. He studied primary and secondary levels in schools in Libya and Egypt, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in dentistry from Cairo University in 1979. He worked as an assistant to Zuhdi al-Tarazi, the Permanent Representative of the PLO to the United Nations, then he replaced him between the years (1991-2003), and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs between the years ( 2003 - 2005).

Al-Qudwa joined the Fatah movement in 1969, participated in its national activities, and was a student activist within the General Union of Palestine Students. He was chosen as a member of the National Council representing the Union in 1975, and was head of the administrative body of the Union in 1982, and a member of the administrative body of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in 1975. 1980, and an observer member in the Fatah Revolutionary Council in 1981, then a full member in 1989, and a member of the Central Council of the PLO between the years (1981-1986) and (2009-2021), and he was chosen as a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement at its sixth general conference held in The city of Bethlehem in 2009, then he was re-selected at the Seventh General Conference of Fatah held in Ramallah in 2016, and he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yasser Arafat Foundation (headquartered in Ramallah) between the years (2007-2021).

Al-Qudwa founded the Palestinian National Democratic Forum on March 2, 2021, and along with Marwan Barghouti and Hani Al-Masry formed the Freedom List to run in the legislative elections that were scheduled to be held in May 2021.

Al-Kidwa was chosen as a joint envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States to Syria in 2012, but he submitted his resignation from that mission in 2014, and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States chose him as his envoy to Libya in 2014, where he completed his mission in 2015.

Al-Qudwa wrote a number of studies on Palestine and its issue, published analytical political articles that dealt with various developments in the Palestinian issue, and participated in a number of conferences of both an academic and political nature.

Al-Qudwa opposed the Oslo Accords, and submitted his resignation from the National Council following its signing under the pretext of not presenting the agreement to the National Council in accordance with the legal and administrative regulations. He was issuing statements against some of the Authority’s policies, especially those related to internal Palestinian affairs and managing the file of the relationship with the occupying state. The dispute between him and the occupying state escalated. The main current in the Central Committee of the Fatah movement until he submitted his resignation from the Fatah institutions in 2018, but he withdrew from it under pressure from his comrades, and remained there until the Central Committee issued a decision to dismiss him from it on March 8, 2021, and he was relieved of his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yasser Arafat Foundation. On March 18, 2021, the authority then withdrew his diplomatic passport at the beginning of 2022, which later prompted him to move to live in Gaza after he had been living in Ramallah.

Nasser al-Qudwa told FRANCE 24 on 19 December 2023 that Mahmoud Abbas's 18 years at the head of the Palestinian Authority "has to end", adding that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians agree. It is their right to see new leadership, he said, adding that "85% of the Palestinians want Mister Abbas to resign".

Qudwa said that it “definitely doesn’t look as if Israel is aiming at Hamas” but is actually waging a “real war of savagery” on Palestinians civilians. Qudwa also doesn't think Israel "will be able to eliminate Hamas” and urged both sides to end the war “properly”, stressing that it was up to Palestinians to handle the aftermath of the conflict as a united people.

While a temporary Arab or international presence could be needed for a transitional period, the Palestinians should be in the driving seat, he said. “Ideas such as having some foreigners coming to do the trick aren’t going to work.”

Qudwa said that while the war would likely weaken Hamas, future inter-Palestinian talks would need to involve the group. “We, as Palestinians, need to be ready (…) to continue debating with them," he said. Asked whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should step down, Qudwa notes that the “overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people” want him to leave. Abbas was elected only once in his 18 years at the helm and has since become wildly unpopular, he said, with polls showing that “85% of the Palestinians want Mister Abbas to resign (…) the guy has been there for 18 years with [a] one-time election. That has to end."

He went on to say that it is "the right [of the] Palestinian people to see new faces”. But if the current leadership refuses to step down willingly, things could get “ugly”, he predicted.

Qudwa said that, after the war in Gaza, a new Palestinian governance should be put in place. Figures such as former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan and jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti or even he himself could play a role in this new future, saying he would be willing if he is asked to "fulfil some responsibilities”.