Mohammed Shabir

Mohammed Shabir (sometimes written Mohammed Shbeir, Mohammed Shubair or Mohammed Shubeir) is the Prime Minister-in-waiting for the next Palestinian unity government. On November 13, 2006 senior Hamas officials in Syria announced that Hamas and Fatah had agreed on him.

Shabir, 60, is originally from the Gaza town of Khan Younis and received his doctorate in microbiology from Marshall University. He served for 15 years as president of The Islamic University in Gaza, retiring in August 2005. He and his wife have six children, and she is deputy to the minister of women's affairs. They live in Gaza City. Considered close to both Hamas and Fatah, Shabir frequently visited the late Yasser Arafat in his West Bank and Gaza Strip headquarters.