Areikat: UN Move Helps 'Keep Hope Alive' for Palestinians<br />The Christian Science Monitor - St. Regis Hotel<br />On Monday, September 13, 2011, Palestinian Ambassador Maen Areikat joined the Monitor Lunch for a conversation with reporters.<br /><br />Maen Rashid Areikat is the Palestinian Ambassador to Washington. Prior to his appointment to Washington, Mr. Areikat was bestowed the <br />rank of Ambassador by Chairman of the PLO and Palestinian National <br />Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Maen Areikat served for 11 <br />years at the Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) of the PLO in <br />Ramallah, most recently as its Deputy Head and Coordinator-General <br />(2008-2009). Areikat first joined NAD in 1998, when it was headed by <br />current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and served as <br />its Director-General until March 2008. In addition to overseeing NAD’s <br />day-to-day operations, Mr. Areikat was responsible for overseeing the <br />work of the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), which provides legal, <br />policy, communication and technical support to Palestinian Negotiating <br />Teams and to the Palestinian Leadership.<br />
