Abdelraouf al-Rawabdeh
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Abdelraouf al-Rawabdeh was born February 13, 1939 (and thus has just turned 68), at Al-Sarih-Irbid in northern Jordan. Coming from the Irbid area, he is one of the few northern Jordanians to rise to prominence in politics, where many of the establishment have come from the towns of the south. He was the son of merchant Salim Al-Rawabdeh and his wife, Yomna Ayed, he is the only son for them with six sisters.
Rawabdeh was educated at the Irbid Secondary School and then attended the American University in Beirut (AUB), where he is said to have been friendly with a fellow-student, Ishaq al-Farhan, now leading the Islamist Islamic Action Front (IAF). Rawabdeh took a B.Sc. in Pharmacology at AUB in 1962, and he record the highest grade ever achievedin this field; subsequently, in 1982-1983, he also studied law at the University of Jordan.
Beginning his career as a pharmacist, Rawabdeh entered government service as a Pharmacy Inspector in 1962-1964, and then as Chief of the Pharmacy Section in the Ministry of Health from 1964 to 1968. He then directed the Pharmacy and Supplies Department (1968-1975). In 1976 he served a brief term as an Administrator at Yarmuk University before being named, in June of that year, as Minister of Communications in the government of Prime Minister Mudar Badran. It was Rawabdeh�s first Cabinet-level post. In 1977-78 he also held the portfolio of Minister of Health while retaining Communications. From June of 1978 to December of 1979 he retained the Health portfolio but gave up Communications. Meanwhile, from 1978 to 1983, he served as a member of the Jordan National Consultative Assembly, an appointed body during the period when Parliament was suspended. In 1982-1985 he was Chairman of Jordan Phosphate Mines Co., and Vice Chairman in the same years of the Jordan Fertilizer Industry Company.
In 1983, Rawabdeh was named Lord Mayor of �Amman, an appointive post.
Despite a distinguished record, Rawabdeh is real prominence has mostly come since the restoration of parliamentary life, beginning in 1989. Beginning as an appointed deputy from Irbid, he retained that seat with the restoration of a fully-elected Parliament and still holds it.
He continued to hold ministerial positions. In 1989-1991 he held the Ministry of Public Works under another Prime Ministry of Mudar Badran; he returned to the Cabinet in the Abd al-Salam al-Majali government in 1994 and served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Sharif Zayd bin Shakir in 1995.
In 1993, Rawabdeh founded the Awakening Party, and became its Secretary-General. It is considered a centrist party; subsequently it joined a coalition of eight parties in 1996, running as the National Constitutional Party, with Rawabdeh as Deputy Secretary-General and Political Bureau head of the larger grouping. He subsequently left the larger bloc. Rawabdeh supported the 1994 peace treaty with Israel, and is generally seen as supportive of pro-Western and pro-peace-process policies. Rawabdeh was appointed as the first prime minister serving with King Abdullah II of Jordan in March 4, 1999. His Cabinet earned the confidence of the lower house by 66 votes out of 80.
He still considered as one of the most promenent politicians in Jordan. Rawabdeh is an author for number of books, he writes in Politics and Pharmacology.
Rawabdeh is a swimmer and has belonged to a number of national sporting associations.
Rawabdeh married his wife Fendieh Rawabdeh at Sarih-Irbid on June 27, 1959. They have 11 children, 10 daughters and one son.
