Tayeb Abdul Rahim. (WAFA Images)

RAMALLAH, Wednesday, March 18, 2020 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas today mourned his office’s secretary general and former member of Fatah Central Committee, Tayeb Abdul Rahim, who died in Cairo at age 75.

“Today we say goodbye to a dear brother, a loyal friend and a strong fighter who has done so much for Palestine and its people, and who was an example of giving and sacrifice, holding to the national constants and Palestinian legitimacy,” said the President in his eulogy of Abdul Rahim, extending his condolences to his family, Fatah movement and the Palestinian national movement.

Abdul Rahim was born in the town of Anabta, in the northern West Bank district of Tulkarm, in 1944. He joined Fatah movement in 1965 while studying at college in Cairo, where he was head of the Palestinian Students Union.

He ran Fatah’s radio station, Saout al-Asifa, between 1969 and 1970, then served as director of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) radio between 1973 and 1978, before he became Palestine’s ambassador to China, former Yugoslavia, Egypt and then Jordan.

He was appointed by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as his chief of staff and office secretary general. He kept this post under President Abbas until his death.

M.K.