Mahdi Abdul Hadi
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Mahdi Abdul Hadi (b. Nablus, 1944) studied law at Damascus University in Syria becoming a lawyer on graduation.
In the 1970s Abdul Hadi and Yousef Nasser founded Al-Fajr newspaper to promote debate about the Palestinian issue. In 1977 he founded the Arab Thought Forum, a Palestinian think-tank that inspired and developed the National Guidance Committee. In the same year Abdul Hadi worked with Bir Zeit University to set up the first Palestinian public relations office. He also served as the elected Secretary General of the Council for Higher Education in the West Bank.
Abdul Hadi obtained his PhD from the Department of Peace Studies in the School of Social and International Studies at the University of Bradford in 1984, doing his dissertation on Palestinian-Jordanian relations and subsequently studied at the Harvard School of International Affairs where he was a fellow for one year. Following these studies he accepted the post of special advisor to the Ministry of Occupied Land Affairs in Amman, Jordan.
In 1987 Abdul Hadi founded the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA) to provide a forum for the "expression and analysis of a plurality of local and foreign perspectives".
Abdul Hadi has published numerous articles, monographs, and essays and has edited several publications, including, most recently, 100 Years of Palestinian History, A 20th Century Chronology (2001).
