Who is Mahmoud Abbas?
Mahmoud Abbas is a founding member of Fatah, the largest political party of the PLO. He is married to Amina and has three sons: Mazen[9][9], Yaser and Tareq. He has seven grand-children and another on the way. Abbas is also known familiarly as Abu Mazen (Father of Mazen) in accordance with Arabic tradition which often refers to parents as Abu (Father of) or Um (Mother of) the first-born son. Abbas was born in 1935 in the town of Safad in northeastern Palestine. During Israels campaign against Palestinian civilians in1948, Abbas and his family, together with most of Safads Palestinian population, became refugees in Syria – Abbas walking all the way to the Syrian border on the other side of the Jordan River. Abbas worked as a day laborer laying floor tiles and as an elementary school teacher before earning his B.A. in law from the University of Damascus. He later earned a Ph.D. in history from Moscows Oriental College. Abbas is the Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee (the hi
