Success stories of Palestinian achievers from all over the world

Ali Kazak

Personal Info

  • Country of residence: Palestine
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in: 1947
  • Age: 70
  • Curriculum vitae :

Information

Ali Kazak " born in Haifa, Palestine, in 1947" was a senior Palestinian diplomat. He is now the Managing Director of Southern Link International, a business, investment consultancy, and public relations company. He is the founder of the Australia-Arab Affairs Council and Palestine Publications.

Kazak grew up in Syria as a Palestinian refugee. He and his mother were separated from his father when Israel was created in 1948 and were prevented from returning home. He did not see his father, who was living back in Haifa, for 48 years. In 1968, while at Damascus University, Kazak was invited to join the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fateh) and joined its political wing. At the time the movement was underground, it is now the largest party within the PLO.

Kazak immigrated to Australia in 1970. He became active in pro-Palestinian Lobbying.

Early History in Australia

Kazak was the founder, publisher and co-editor of the Australian Newspaper Free Palestine (1979–90). He was also the publisher and editor of Background Briefing (1987–93), the book The Jerusalem Question (1997), which was translated into Portuguese and reprinted in Brazil, and the author of the book Australia and the Arabs (أستراليا والعرب, written in Arabic) in 2012, which was published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, in Doha, Qatar.

He also contributed a chapter in ‘Israel’s International Relations: Contexts, Tools, Success and Failures’ published in Arabic by MADAR (The Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies) entitled ‘Israel’s Relations with Australia, New Zealand and the pacific region’. As well, he has written other booklets and publications on the Palestine question, and penned the Palestinian entry in the Encyclopedia of the Australian People put out by the Australian Government to commemorate Australia’s bicentennial in 1988. He also organised a number of Palestinian political and cultural exhibitions throughout Australia. 

He was the founder and the driving force behind the establishment of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign on 30 May 1981 in a number of states in Australia (VIC, ACT, SA, WA and QLD) and in New Zealand's major cities, and other Palestinian community groups.

His activities in advocating for the Palestinian cause were recognised in 1981 with his appointment by the PLO Executive Committee as the PLO's representative to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region.

Source

Achievements and Awards

Kazak was awarded the 20th Anniversary of Independence Medal by the president of Vanuatu, Rev. John Bani, on 30 July 2000, becoming the first Middle East ambassador to receive such an award throughout the Pacific and Australasian regions.
 
In May 1986 Kazak became the first person to call for adjudication by the Australian Press Council of untrue and stereotyped reporting of Palestinians by an Australian media outlet. The case was upheld by the Press Council in its adjudication of 27 August 1986. This was followed by other cases in which the Palestinian people were vilified by the media.

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