Leïla Shahid had become emblematic of the Palestinian cause, much like of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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Shahid, who was a former Palestinian delegate-general to France, died on Wednesday, February 18, at the age of 76, her family announced to French newspaper Le Monde. She had been ill for many months and was living in the south of France.
Born in Beirut to a Palestinian family originally from Jerusalem, Shahid became a leading figure within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which for decades was headed by Yasser Arafat.
From 1989 to 1993, she served as the PLO’s first female representative overseas in Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark. She became the Palestinian delegate-general to France in 1994. At the time, Yasser Arafat was president of the Palestinian Authority.
