Riyad al-Maliki (born 31 May 1955) is a Palestinian politician and former Minister of Information, government spokesperson, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the Palestinian National Authority in its 12th government. He also resumed office as Foreign Affairs Minister in the current 13th government.

Biography

He was born on 31 May 1955 in Bethlehem, and earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Pontifical Xavierian University in Colombia in 1978 and a PhD in civil engineering at the American University. He started working as a lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department of Birzeit University in 1981 and served as the head of the department from 1993 to 1996. He also founded and headed Panorama, the Palestinian Center for the Dissemination of Democracy and Community Development, an active non-governmental organization. He also served as spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was awarded the European Peace Prize in 2000 in Copenhagen and the Italian Peace Prize (Lombardi) in 2005. He is the coordinator of the Arab Program to Support and Develop Democracy, which is an alliance of more than 12 civil society institutions. He is also a visiting professor in several European universities. In 2007, al-Maliki was one of three government ministers who investigated the circumstances of Palestinians who were stranded on the Egyptian side of the border along the Gaza Strip, because the only border crossing available to them was Israeli-controlled and they feared interrogation or arrest. His VIP travel card was confiscated by Israeli border security in 2023 as per the instructions of Benjamin Netanyahu. This was done after he returned from a meeting of the International Criminal Court. The Palestinians had asked the International Court of Justice for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian Territories.