Palestinian Ambassador to Belgium Dr. Amal Jadou-Shakaa guest at debate series De Arena
On Tuesday October 7, we welcome H.E. Dr. Amal Jadou-Shakaa - the ambassador of Palestine in Belgium - to our debate series The Arena, which is entirely focused on Gaza.
She joins Member of Parliament Kathleen Depoorter (N-VA), federal parliament member Els Van Hoof (cd&v), and professor of international law Dimitri Van Den Meerssche. Fien Sabbe will moderate the evening.
During the debate, Manoeuvre vzw will be present on stage with their solidarity embroidery. They have been embroidering the names of the victims since October 2023 on a long robe. Manoeuvre is an artistic workshop in Ghent, where textiles, daily life, and art come together.
Dr. Amal Jadou-Shakaa was assigned by the Palestinian President as Ambassador of Palestine to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the EU on August 16th, 2024. Prior to this, she held the position of Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Palestinian Prime Minister from May 1st to August 15th, 2024. Before that, she spent five
years serving as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs & Expatriates of the State of Palestine, becoming the first woman ever to hold this position in Palestine.
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Before that, Dr. Jadou worked for six years as Assistant Minister on European Affairs. In 2009, she served as Deputy Chief of the Palestinian Mission in Washington, DC. Ambassador Jadou also served as the Director-General of the International Affairs Department at the Office of the President of Palestine from
2005-2009. In that capacity, she served as a close aide to the president on international relations and focused a lot on relations with the United States.
Dr. Jadou also served as Director General of the US Desk at the Council of Ministers of the State of Palestine where she worked on enhancing bilateral relations with the US. Ambassador Jadou was born in A’yda Refugee camp in Bethlehem. She holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and was a graduate fellow at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiations. She wrote her Ph.D. Dissertation on “Regime Analysis”: An Alternative to Traditional Explanations of the Failure of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process (1993-2000) where she explored the mediation role of the subsequent US administrations in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. She also holds a Master’s degree in International Studies from Birzeit University. She speaks three languages: Arabic, English, and Hebrew.
Ambassador Jadou was decorated in July 2018 with “the Lady Star of the Night” Medal from the Italian President Sergio Mattarella, for her role in strengthening the Palestinian-Italian bilateral relations. She was also granted the “Knight” rank of the Order of the Legion of Honor by the President of the Republic of France for her role in strengthening Palestinian-French bilateral relations. In March 2022 she received the Arab Women Oscar in Politics & Diplomacy in Aqaba- Jordan for her pioneering role in this field. In May 2023, Fletcher School of Diplomacy and International Law awarded Dr. Amal Jadou as “the Best Diplomacy Graduate working in the government sector”.
