Talk:Zaki Nusseibeh

Additional sections to be added to the page for more up-to-date and accurate depiction, please
Bio editor 2020 (talk) 04:48, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

Brief overview
Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, active in government service in the United Arab Emirates since its formation in 1971, and with the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi since 1968, began his second term in July 2020 as a Minister of State in the UAE Government. His portfolio includes the establishment and management of the Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, MOFAIC, as a coordinating body committed to international cooperation through cross-cultural dialogue and exchange through the promotion of UAE arts and culture abroad. Its mandate is to enhance understanding of, and affinity for, the UAE’s culture and values, in order to strengthen political, economic and people-to-people cooperation with other countries.

Prior to his current role, Nusseibeh served as an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (2016-2017) and as the Cultural Adviser at the UAE Presidential Court, later Ministry of Presidential Affairs (1975-present). From the late 1960s, he also acted as the personal interpreter and adviser to the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (d.2004). He then acted in the same role with his successor UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2004-present).

Bio editor 2020 (talk) 14:37, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Early life and career
Born in Jerusalem, Zaki Nusseibeh was educated at St. George’s School, Jerusalem, and completed his secondary education at Rugby School, Warwickshire, UK. He then attended Queen’s College, University of Cambridge, graduating with an MA (with honours) degree in Economics in 1967.

Many of Nusseibeh’s family were displaced during the conflict that led to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. His late mother, Nuzha Al Ghoussein, left with her family from Ramleh in 1948 and her brother, Talat Al Ghoussein, subsequently became Kuwait’s Ambassador to Washington (1970). Nusseibeh’s late father, Anwar Nusseibeh (d. 1986) who had lost a leg during the 1948 war, became active in Jordanian politics, and held a number of cabinet posts in the Jordanian government, including Defence, Interior and Education (1950s), and stood for Parliament as well as serving in the Senate. He was also Governor of Jerusalem (1961), and subsequently Ambassador to the Court of St James (1965).

As a young student in England, Zaki Nusseibeh was involved in Palestinian politics, forming an Arab Society at the University of Cambridge which held debates and invited speakers on topical issues in contemporary Arab politics.

Nusseibeh graduated from Cambridge at the time of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and a return to Jerusalem was not a feasible option. Instead, on the advice of his father, he travelled to Abu Dhabi, then in the early stages of modern development, with the intention of working for a family-owned construction business recently opened there.

Once settled in Abu Dhabi (1967), he began to work as a freelance journalist for a number of British and Arab publications, including The Economist, The Financial Times and the BBC Arabic Service. He interviewed Sheikh Zayed in April 1968 for a British documentary, translating from Arabic to English. He was subsequently asked to join the Abu Dhabi government, working briefly with the newly-established Civil Service Authority (1968-1969), then moving to Abu Dhabi’s Department of Information as Director of Research and Documentation (1969-1971), helping in establishing Abu Dhabi’s first newspapers in Arabic and English (Al-Ittihad 1969, Abu Dhabi News 1969). He then became Director of Information in the newly formed UAE Federal Ministry of Information (1972-1975).

While at the Ministry of Information, he also worked as an English language broadcaster and programme producer and helped in the planning and development of an information and media strategy for the government. He was also involved in the preparing, editing and translating of all its books and publications.

In 1975, Zaki Nusseibeh became the Director of the Press Office in the Diwan (Court) of Sheikh Zayed, subsequently becoming an Adviser while continuing his role as the President’s personal interpreter. As part of this work, he was involved in the preparation of official state visits and the formulation of government briefs for the President and his senior aides. He also accompanied the President on most of his official visits abroad and took part in the talks held on several Government levels.

Bio editor 2020 (talk) 14:37, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

The Nusseibeh Family
The Nusseibeh family is one of the oldest families in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

The Nusseibeh boast of a 1,300 year presence in Jerusalem, being descended from Ubayda ibn as-Samit, the brother of Nusaybah bint Ka'ab, a female warrior from the Banu Khazraj of Arabia, and one of the four women leaders of the 14 tribes of early Islam. Ubadya, a companion of Umar ibn al-Khattab, was appointed the first Muslim high judge of Jerusalem after its conquest in 638 C.E., together with an obligation to keep the Holy Rock of Calvary clean.

According to family tradition, they retained an exclusive right to the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre down to the Ottoman period, when the Joudeh family obtained a warrant to share possession. To this day, the Nusseibeh family are said to be trustees, and upon receiving the keys from a member of the Joudeh clan, the Nusseibeh are said to turn them over to the warden of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre around dawn every day.

Bio editor 2020 (talk) 14:40, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Art and culture in diplomacy
Zaki Nusseibeh has served on several public and private bodies dealing with the development of cultural and educational strategies in the UAE. He was Deputy Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (2006-2012) and a member of the Board of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Tourism and Culture (2012-2016), today the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. In this capacity, he contributed to the development of some of Abu Dhabi’s major cultural and art initiatives, such as the Saadiyat Culture District and its leading museums, including the Louvre Museum Abu Dhabi, inaugurated in 2017.

Nusseibeh’s publications include translations of Gulf and Arab poetry into several European languages as well as articles in different journals and newspapers.

He has recently published a book in Arabic about a tribal leader who was a close companion to the late Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the United Arab Emirates (Sheikh Zayed Wa Salem Bin Hamm, Rifqat Oumor, Abu Dhabi 2019).

Bio editor 2020 (talk) 14:41, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Affiliations and chairmanships
Zaki Nusseibeh has served on several public and private bodies dealing with the development of cultural and educational strategies in the UAE.

Nusseibeh was appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi in 2018, having helped to establish the University in 2006 and sitting on its Administrative Board (2006-2018).

He is a member of the Administrative Board of the Emirates Diplomatic Academy with oversight responsibility for its management (2017-present).

He is also a member on several other Boards including the Sheikh Zayed Book Award (2005-present), the International Prize for Arabic Fiction , also known as IPAF or Arab Bookers Literary Prize (2009-present), and the Board of Trustees for Abu Dhabi University (2003-present).

He has been a member of the UAE national Rhodes scholarship selection committee since 2015.

He was elected a member of the Higher Board of Administration of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (2018-present).

He was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Washington (2020).

Nusseibeh was the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Middle East Centre of the London School of Economics (2015-2018), as well as a member of the Board of Administrators of the Alliance Française Foundation in Paris (2013-2017).

He was also the President of the Alliance Française Abu Dhabi (1977-2017) and of the UAE Chapter of the International Friends of Richard Wagner Society (2008-present). He helped to establish the Abu Dhabi Classics programme in Abu Dhabi and the Al Ain Music Festival in Al Ain. He was Chair of the Wagner Foundation in Leipzig, Germany (2014-2017) and a member on the Board of Trustees of the Agha Khan Museum in Toronto (2016-2019).

Bio editor 2020 (talk) 14:42, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks for using the request edit template. You have not stated how you know Nusseibeh. Are you paid by this person, either directly or through another company, to edit this page?
 * After looking through this request, my biggest problem is the sources used to verify the information. Many websites are primary sources, and while allowed on Wikipedia they should not be relied upon for the majority of an article's information. This is especially important for biographies of living people as Wikipedia has higher standards for those articles. I have used the bidoun source because, while it is a verbatum interview with the subject, I think the information I kept is uncontroversial.
 * I suggest looking for secondary sources like newspaper articles or magazine profiles to verify information about this person. Once this is complete your can add a new request edit template and have an editor review your work.
 * I will say, though, that the whole "The Nusseibeh Family" section should not be included in this article, as Zaki is not currently a steward of the keys of that religious site. Also, the "Affiliations and chairmanships" section is too detailed and should only include notable awards and achievements (and some of this information might be moved into the Career section.)
 * I also did a copy-edit of the article to remove unreliable sources, uncited claims and promotional problems. Lots of the information can be added back in if it can be verified from reliable, secondary sources. A lot of information is removed, but it might be added back in if the information can be verified by reliable, independent, secondary sources. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Z1720 (talk) 00:50, 5 December 2020 (UTC)