The Diplomat
Husni Abdel Wahed, the new head of the Palestinian Authority’s mission to Spain, has taken up his post in Madrid in the past few hours, The Diplomat has learned.
Wahed’s arrival fills the vacancy left by Musa Odeh, who left the post in July 2021, after having spent fifteen years in our country as Palestinian representative.
Before being chosen by the Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, to head the diplomatic representation in Madrid last January, Wahed was ambassador in Buenos Aires, where he arrived in 2015, five years after Argentina recognised the Palestinian state.
Born 61 years ago in a refugee camp in Jericho, Husni Abdel Wahed holds a degree in Social Sciences from the Academy of Gornabania (Bulgaria) and a degree in Journalism from the University of Havana.
In addition to working for Balsam magazine in his home country, he has been rector of the Arab College in Santiago de Chile and has advised the Education Department of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). His diplomatic career began as assistant to the Palestinian deputy foreign minister. After a number of posts in that department, he was sent to Venezuela as a counsellor to the embassy. He has also advised the Palestinian Minister for the Americas.
The head of the Palestinian mission has the rank of ambassador, but does not present Letters of Credence to the King, as Spain does not recognise Palestine as a state. Nor, consequently, does he present Style Copies of these Credentials to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although he does go to the Department to hand over to the Protocol Services the letter from the Palestinian Authority with his appointment as Head of Mission.
Although Spain has not yet recognised the Palestinian state, in 2010 it decided to upgrade the status of what was then the General Delegation of Palestine in Madrid to ‘Mission’ and to grant the status of ambassador to its highest representative.
Pedro Sánchez’s government has not taken the step of recognising the Palestinian state, despite the fact that, in its programme for the April 2019 general elections, it included a commitment to ‘promote’ such recognition by EU member states, a reference that was omitted from the programme for the November 2019 elections.
