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Issa Jamil Kassissieh | |
|---|---|
| Palestinian Ambassador to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta | |
| Assumed office January 2017 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1964 East Jerusalem |
Issa Jamil Kassissieh (born 1964) is a Palestinian scholar and diplomat, who since January 2017 serves as Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. [1]
Issa Kassissieh was born in East Jerusalem into a Greek-Orthodox family. He studied English literature at Bethlehem University, international relations at Birzeit University, public administration at the Kennedy School of Government and diplomacy at the University of Birmingham.
Kassissieh served in various positions involving negotiations on behalf of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. He served as director of International Relations department at the Orient House, Jerusalem. Later, he joined the staff of Negotiations Affairs Department of the Palestinian Authority, and was mostly involved in negotiations with churches and on issues relating to the problem of Jerusalem. He was appointed Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See in January 2017.
Palestinian Christians are Christian citizens of the State of Palestine. In the wider definition of Palestinian Christians, including the Palestinian refugees, diaspora and people with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry this can be applied to an estimated 500,000 people worldwide as of 2000. Palestinian Christians belong to one of a number of Christian denominations, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, other branches of Protestantism and others. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University estimates that 6% of the Palestinian population worldwide is Christian and that 56% of them live outside of the region of Palestine. In both the local dialect of Palestinian Arabic and in Classical Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic, Christians are called Nasrani or Masihi. Hebrew-speakers call them Notzri, which means Nazarene.
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The foreign relations of the State of Palestine have been conducted since the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964. In November 1988, the PLO's Palestinian National Council declared the independence of the State of Palestine and in 1994 the PLO established the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) following the Oslo Accords. The PLO Executive Committee performs the functions of the government of the State of Palestine. Currently, the PLO maintains a network of offices in foreign countries and also represents the PNA abroad.
International recognition of the State of Palestine has been the objective of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence formally established the de jure sovereign state on 15 November 1988 in Algiers, Algeria, at an extraordinary session in-exile of the Palestinian National Council. The declaration was promptly acknowledged by a range of countries, and by the end of the year, the proclaimed Palestinian state was recognized by over 78 countries. As of 1 June 2023, 139 of the 193 United Nations (UN) member states and two non-member states have recognized it. Palestine also has been a non-member observer state of the UN General Assembly since the passing of United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 in November 2012.
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