First woman to represent the PLO abroad served as envoy to France and EU for over two decades; tributes pour in as investigation into her death begins
Leila Shahid, the first woman to serve as a diplomat for the Palestine Liberation Organization abroad and for more than twenty years the most recognizable voice of the Palestinian cause in Europe, has died at her home in southern France at the age of 76, her family confirmed Wednesday.
"She died today," her sister Zeina told AFP, without providing further details .
Shahid's body was found in the village of La Leque in the Gard department, where she resided. According to a source close to the investigation, the former diplomat, who had reportedly been seriously ill for several years, apparently died by suicide . An investigation to determine the cause of death has been launched .
A Trailblazing Career
Born in Beirut in 1949 to an affluent family originally from Jerusalem, Shahid grew up steeped in a lineage marked by political engagement . Her great-grandfather served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1904 to 1909. Her family had been expelled from British-mandate Palestine for "nationalist activity" .
The 1967 Arab-Israeli War proved a turning point. "The defeat of 1967 was a major awakening for me," she later told AFP . At 18, she abandoned her bourgeois upbringing to join the Fatah movement and work in Palestinian refugee camps, particularly Shatila, witnessing firsthand the struggle for social self-governance—years she would later describe as "the best years of my life" .
After studying anthropology at the American University of Beirut, she pursued doctoral research in Paris. In 1976, she was elected president of the Union of Palestinian Students in France, working closely with the PLO's representative .
In 1989, she made history as the first woman appointed to represent the PLO abroad, serving in Ireland before also becoming representative in the Netherlands and Denmark . From 1993 to 2005, she served as the Palestinian envoy to France, then from 2006 to 2014 as representative to the European Union, Belgium, and Luxembourg .
She was one of the first Palestinians to establish contacts with Israelis who favored peace efforts, and was with Yasser Arafat in his final days before he died in a French military hospital in 2004 .
Outpouring of Tributes
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas mourned Shahid as "a model of diplomacy committed to the values of freedom, justice, and peace," according to the official WAFA news agency. He said she "devoted her life to defending the Palestinian cause and was a genuine voice for Palestinian diplomacy, carrying out the duties entrusted to her with competence and distinction" .
Hala Abou-Hassira, the current Palestinian representative in France, called Shahid "the iconic ambassador of Palestine" on X, describing her death as "a huge loss for Palestine and for the world that believes in justice" .
French-Algerian author Karim Amellal praised her as a "strong and dignified voice for Palestine in France, an indefatigable advocate for peace" who "opened the doors to an era of hope, that of the Oslo Accords. A time that feels so distant today. An era, alas, that has passed" .
Journalist Edwy Plenel bid farewell to a "si joyeuse combattante"—such a joyful fighter .
A Voice for Peace to the End
Despite her illness, Shahid remained engaged. In an interview published last autumn, she reaffirmed her condemnation of the killing of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, stating: "I have always opposed the murders perpetrated by any group against civilians. These are assassinations. I do not understand how Hamas can justify it. The International Criminal Court will have to judge them one day for war crimes" . She also denounced "the passivity of the international community, incapable for two years of obtaining a lasting ceasefire" .
France formally recognized a Palestinian state in September 2025 .
Shahid retired from professional diplomacy in 2015 and devoted herself to cultural actions for the Palestinian diaspora from her home in the Gard . She was also the longtime director of "The Review of Palestinian Studies," a French-language periodical on the history of the conflict .
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