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Balawi was born in al-Bala, near Tulkarem in 1939, and holds diplomas in administration, journalism and education. He has been a member of the Fateh Central Committee since 1989. He was the Palestinian ambassador to Libya from 1973 to 1975. From 1983 to 1994 he served as ambassador to Tunisia. Balawi was also representative to the Arab League for 12 years. Upon his return to Palestine he served as commissioner-general of the national security agencies and secretary to the National Security Council until 1996 when he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) as the representative for Tulkarem.
In 2001, Balawi was assigned the role of closely monitoring the West Bank Fateh group, in order to retain some control over local autonomous leaders. In that year he also signed the Joint Palestinian-Israeli Declaration “No to bloodshed, no to occupation, yes to negotiations, yes to peace.” Despite this, his opponents have accused him of financing attacks against Israel.
Balawi is the secretary of the Union of Palestinian journalists and writers and is the author of several plays and novels.
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