Nabeel Kassis
Nabeel Kassis (), also transliterated as Nabil Kassis, Nabil Qasis, Nabeel Qassis, etc., is a Palestinian academic and politician from Ramallah. He was born 1945. Academic career. Kassis studied in Germany and Lebanon, earning a master's degree from the University of Mainz, and a PhD from the American University of Beirut, both in nuclear physics. He taught physics at a number of universities in Germany, Italy, France, England, Lebanon, and Jordan before joining Birzeit University in 1980. He served as President of Birzeit University from 2004 to 2010. Diplomatic career. Kassis was a member of the Palestinian delegation  to the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991, and a deputy head of the negotiation delegation at the Washington talks in 1992 to 1993. He later became the Director-General of the Technical and Advisory Committee to the Palestinian negotiation team, established to do preparatory work for the transition to Palestinian self-government. He was a member of the Palestinian delegation on final status negotiations in 1999. Political career. As a proponent of transparency and reform, Kassis was appointed member of the Special Committee for the Investigation of the Auditor's Report in 1997. He later entered government as a political  independent, serving as minister of state in 1998, Tourism Minister in 2002, Planning Minister from 2003 to 2005, and Finance Minister from 2012 to 2013.