Dr. Shaddad Attili is an adviser-ranking minister at the Negotiations Affairs Department and a former minister and head of the Palestinian Water Authority PWA (April 2008 to August 2014). He is a former deputy secretary general of the Water and Environmental Division of the Union for the Mediterranean. A geologist by training, he obtained a PhD in science and industrial technology from Orleans University, France, in 1999, a BSc in geology and an MSc in industrial geology, both from Al Yarmouk University, Jordan. In July 2013, the French president awarded Attili the Legion d’Honneur, considered the highest decoration in France.