The story of Dr. Husam Zomlot is a very exciting and interesting one.
He was born in Rafah Refugees Camp in Palestine. His mother played an important role as his mentor. Her influence would be determining. But something else that was also as much important for the development of his personality was the experiences in the camp itself. He himself admits that these shaped his personality. He recalls when he joined his friends in throwing stones against the Israeli occupying forces during the first Intifada back in 1987. Unfortunately for him some of the Israeli soldiers followed him until they catch him in one of the houses in the camp. As a young boy he was scared but after a while he realized that even the Israeli soldiers were also that scared. At the age 13 he realized that there was the need for a third party in order to boost and resolve the Palestinian issue.
So he decided to get the best education possible so that he can than serve the Palestinian Issue and people the best possible. His education starts with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Economics and Political Sciences from the Birzeit University. He then continued his studies in the UK at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences where he finished a Masters degree in Development studies. Lately he completed the in economics from the University of London.
Dr. Husam has a career in diplomacy also. He has been chosen from the Palestinian Authority as their special envoy to several bilateral or multilateral meetings and negotiations. He has been regularly appearing on mainstream British and international media. He served as a PLO representative to the UK from 2003 to 2008.
Since he was 4 years old he saw the UN flag all around the place where he lived. So, he decided to work with the UN when he grows up. He decided to do this with a special mission in his mind: to serve the Palestinian people.
For this reason he has also published lately an award winning book, “State Formation in Palestine: Viability and Governance during a Social Transformation”. It was published in 2004 in the UK by Rutledge.
Dr. Hussam believes that one of the most important things in your life is to choose the correct path, asses your mission, vision and the destination where you want to go. It was during this time working for the UN Office of the Special Coordinator in the occupied Territories that he founded the Economic and Social Monitoring Unit. During this time, between 1996 and 1999 he co-authored several UN reports.
In his leisure time, Dr. Husam enjoys reading biographies of different personalities. One of them is “My Life” for Bill Clinton. He particularly underlines a sentence in the book “my life has been determined not by opportunities I used, but by opportunities I missed”. The significance of this is that President Clinton wanted to be a navy pilot but he did not fulfil the medial requirement to become one. So, this missed opportunity opened the door for him to become President of the United States. Dr. Husam interprets this as even although sometimes in our life we miss a lot of opportunities, still the door is always open for others. This was one of the main driving factors behind his strong willingness to continue with his work even though a difficult one.