Draft talk:Mansour Rashad Shawwa
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Mansour Rashad Shawwa | |
|---|---|
| منصور رشاد الشوا | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 4, 1942 Gaza City, Mandatory Palestine |
| Died | September 4, 1998 (aged 56) London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Parent | Rashad al-Shawwa (father) |
| Relatives | Shawwa family |
| Education | Oxford Polytechnic (BEng) |
| Occupation | Businessman, philanthropist |
| Known for | President – Benevolent Society for the Gaza Strip; Mayor-designate of Gaza City (1993 – 1994) |
Mansour Rashad Shawwa (Arabic: منصور رشاد الشوا; 1942 – 4 September 1998) was a Palestinian businessman, philanthropist and civic leader from Gaza City. He headed the Benevolent Society for the Gaza Strip, chaired the Gaza Citrus Exporters Committee, and was appointed by Yasser Arafat to form Gaza City’s first post-occupation municipal council in 1993.
Early life and education
[edit]Shawwa was born in Gaza City in 1942 to the influential Shawwa family.[1] He completed secondary schooling locally and in the early 1960s earned a degree in civil engineering at **Oxford Polytechnic** (later Oxford Brookes University).[1]
Business career
[edit]Returning to Gaza, Shawwa managed family farmland and, by the late 1980s, was described as “**Gaza’s top industrialist**.”[2] As head of the **Gaza Citrus Exporters Committee**, he oversaw direct sales to European buyers worth US$4.2 million in 1990, which he said created a “relative boom” in the Strip’s economy.[3]
Civic and humanitarian work
[edit]Shawwa succeeded his father as **president of the Benevolent Society for the Gaza Strip**, the territory’s largest NGO, which provided welfare, healthcare and support to families of prisoners.[4] After Rashad al-Shawwa’s death (1988), Mansour also completed the *Rashad al-Shawwa Cultural Centre*, the first modern arts venue in Gaza.[5]
Political involvement
[edit]Early diplomacy
[edit]On 29 September 1978 Shawwa was among three Gaza notables who met U.S. envoy Alfred Atherton during the first American dialogue with West Bank/Gaza leaders after the Camp David Accords.[6]
Mayor-designate of Gaza City
[edit]In December 1993, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat asked Shawwa to form an interim municipal council for Gaza City.[7] Academic studies note that Shawwa spent a year building a cross-factional council but was removed in mid-1994 when Arafat opted for a Fatah-dominated slate.[8]
Public statements
[edit]During factional clashes in November 1994 he criticised Fatah gunmen, telling TIME: “This show of muscle was a big mistake … it just provoked a lot of people.”[9]
Death
[edit]Shawwa died of heart disease in London on 4 September 1998.[1] He was buried in Gaza City.
Legacy
[edit]- The Benevolent Society continues to provide welfare programmes in Gaza.
- The Rashad al-Shawwa Cultural Centre remained Gaza’s principal arts venue until its destruction in an air-strike in 2023.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Mansour R. Shawwa". All 4 Palestine. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
- ^ "Exports hit as Israel tightens controls". Financial Times. 19 May 1989. p. 6.
- ^ "EU aid boosts Gaza citrus trade". Financial Times. 11 July 1990. p. 8.
- ^ Beyer, Lisa (5 December 1994). "The Seeds of Civil War". TIME.
- ^ "مركز رشاد الشوا الثقافي". Arabic Wikipedia (in Arabic). Retrieved 10 May 2025.
- ^ "Document 75 – Atherton Meets West Bank/Gazan Palestinians". Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, vol. IX. U.S. Department of State. 30 September 1978.
- ^ "تكليف الشوا بتشكيل مجلس بلدية غزة". جريدة الراية (in Arabic). 7 December 1993.
- ^ Augustus Richard Norton, ed. (1995). "Civil Society in the Gaza Strip: Obstacles to Social Reconstruction". Civil Society in the Middle East, Vol. 2. Brill. p. 281.
- ^ Beyer 1994.
- ^ Shawwa, Rabie (28 Oct 2023). "Israel destroys the Rashad Shawa Cultural Centre in Gaza". LinkedIn.