Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Walid Muhammad Masoud Istaiti was born on June 14, 1962, in the Jenin refugee camp to a Palestinian family from the town of Rihaniya in the Haifa district. He is married and has six daughters and two sons. He completed his primary and preparatory education at the UNRWA Jenin camp school and his secondary education at Haifa Secondary School in Jenin, where he received his high school diploma in the humanities in 1980. He earned a diploma in banking and finance from the Cordoba Institute in Zarqa, Jordan in 1983 and a bachelor's degree in financial management from the Open World University in 2008.
He opened a private accounting office between 1984 and 1987. He then moved to self-employment until 1997 when he obtained a job in the Directorate of Local Government in Jenin. He progressed in the job from a budget officer in the Directorate to the head of the financial affairs department in the Directorate in 2000, then a financial and administrative director in the Directorate in 2005, then the Director General of Local Government in Jenin Governorate in 2017, then an advisor to the Minister of Local Government in 2019.
Influenced by his father's history of struggle and the realities of displacement and occupation, Istaiti became involved in national activism. He joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's labor movement in 1984 and was active in volunteer work and union activities within various institutions. Istaiti was first arrested by the Israeli occupation forces in 1986, interrogated, and subsequently sentenced to four months in prison and a fine of 500 Jordanian dinars.
Esteti believes the future of the Palestinian cause is uncertain. He argues that the internal Palestinian situation is no longer one of liberation, especially given the weakening of Palestinian factions and the current absence of Arab and Islamic support. He considers the Oslo Accords the first blow to the liberation project and one of the most difficult periods in the Palestinian cause's history. He also believes the effects of the internal Palestinian division are devastating. The solution, he asserts, lies in achieving partnership, without which there can be no genuine national revival. Therefore, he believes it is necessary to revitalize the political entities as they were in the 1960s and 70s, ensuring representation for all in national institutions, regardless of their political or religious affiliations. Esteti maintains that resistance is a legitimate right for Palestinians, guaranteed by international conventions, and a necessity for liberation from occupation.
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