Maen Rashid Areikat is currently the Chief Representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Mission to the United States.

 

Areikat was born October 12, 1960, in Jericho in the West Bank to a family influential in Palestinian and Jordanian politics. When he was 18, Areikat left Jericho for England and the US. He received his BS in Finance from Arizona State University in 1983 and his MBA in management from Western International University in 1987. He was elected president of the General Union of Palestine Students from 1981-1983 during his stay at ASU.

 

In 1992 Areikat returned to Palestine and began working with Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, the official spokeswoman of the Palestinian Delegation to the Peace Talks with Israel. He then joined the Orient House, the headquarters of the Palestinian Team to the peace talks, and, from 1993-1998, took part in Palestinian-Israel negations in Gaza, Egypt, Jerusalem and Israel.

 

Areikat became the Director-General of the Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO in Ramallah in 1998. In this position, he supervised the Negotiations Support Unit, which provides legal, policy, communication and technical support to the Palestinian Negotiating Teams with Israel and to the Palestinian National Authority.

 

In May 2009, Areikat joined the PLO Mission to the US. As the Chief Representative of the PLO, he serves an ambassadorial function to the US, especially concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict.

 

Areikat has a wife, Jumana, and three sons: Rashid, Saif and Amr.

 

 

 

Riyad H. Mansour is a Palestinian-American diplomat who is currently the Permanent Observer for the Mission of Palestine to the United Nations.

 

Mansour was born in 1947 in Palestine, where he spent the first 18 years of his life. His father emigrated to Youngstown, OH, and worked in the steel industry, sending money back to his family. Eventually Mansour emigrated, as well, and enrolled in Youngstown State University (YSU). At YSU, He earned a BA in Philosophy and an MA in Counseling in 1971 and 1973 respectively. Mansour went on to graduate from the University of Akron in 1977 with a Ph.D. in Guidance and Counseling.

 

 Mansour started at the United Nations in 1977 as a research advisor and later served as the Deputy Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations from 1983-1994. He then spent 11 years working in the private sector and teaching at the University of Central Florida. In 2005 the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, appointed him to succeed Nasser al-Qudwa as Permanent Observer.