Renowned Palestinian Economist and Arab Thinker, Professor Fadle Mustafa Naqib, Passes Away

Palestine’s academic and research community mourns the loss of Dr. Fadle Mustafa Al-Naqib, who passed away on Monday, the 28th of April 2025, in Canada after a long journey of scholarly excellence and national dedication. Dr. Naqib was a founding member of the Research Department at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), where he supervised and contributed to the Institute’s work in the Public Finance Policy Unit. With his deep insight and extensive expertise, he helped establish the methodological foundations of political economy research in Palestine, enriching the progressive intellectual legacy of Professor Yusif Sayigh from a previous generation. Naqib remained a steadfast intellectual and supporter of MAS’s academic and national mission throughout his life.

Born in 1940 in the Al-Jami’ Al-Ahmar Quarter (Red Mosque) in Safad- Palestine, Naqib and his family were forced to flee to Syria following the 1948 Nakba. He completed his schooling in Damascus, where he witnessed the early formation of the Arab Nationalist Movement. He joined the movement and became acquainted with Dr. George Habash and several of its founding figures in 1954, as he recalls in one of his personal and political reflections. He was an active member in the movement’s activities, particularly through the journal Al-Ra’i, which was launched from Amman, and later from Damascus. He also developed a special literary and national friendship with the late distinguished writer and thinker Ghassan Kanafani, which he documented in numerous essays in both Arabic and English, and in a memoir titled “So Stories End, So Stories Begin”, chronicling his memories of Kanafani and the martyred scholar Basil Al-Kubeisi.

In the 1960s, Al-Naqib moved to the United States, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (his lifelong passion) and a master’s degree in economics, before completing his PhD in economics in Canada. He was a tenured Professor of Mathematical Economics at the University of Waterloo until his retirement in 2005, when the university conferred on him a Professor Emeritus title. His scholarly contributions—published in both Arabic and English—left a profound impact on development studies, political economy, and the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Fadle Naqib joined the Founding Research Team at MAS shortly after its establishment in 1994, and continued to build and enrich the institute’s legacy in Palestinian economic research over three decades. He also served as a consultant to international agencies. Among his early seminal contributions was a foundational study for UNCTAD in 1998 on

prospects for Palestinian regional cooperation. He noted well before it became conventional wisdom that “integration of the Palestinian economy with the Israeli economy, in the form of a customs union and employment of Palestinian workers in Israel, thus can lead to a situation where polarization effects have an adverse impact on Palestinian development potentials. Therefore, it may be in the longer-term interest of the Palestinian economy to reconsider a customs union, with a view to reorienting its trade regime independently of the protective policies of the Israeli economy, which are ill-suited to Palestinian economic structures.”

Beyond his intellect, sharp wit, and lighthearted irony—especially toward those close to his heart —Al-Naqib embodied noble, humane, and patriotic values… an esteemed scientific stature from a different era, deeply rooted in the Palestinian cause, unwavering in his commitment to his people, and a firm believer in Arab unity and resistance. He was a beacon of serious critical thought.

Among his major works are:

· Economic Zionism: The Role of Economics in the Arab–Israeli Conflict (2008)

· The Political Economy of High-Tech Industry in Israel (with Mufid Qassum)

· The Guidebook for Macroeconomics (2011) as well as hundreds of articles and studies published by MAS and elsewhere.

On this sad occasion, MAS recalls Dr. Naqib’s final contribution to the Institute: the 2022 Yusif Sayigh Annual Development Lecture, titled “A Reading in the Present and Future of Economic Development in the Arab Mashreq.” In this lecture, he explored the structural challenges facing development in the region—challenges still highly relevant today. In tribute to his intellectual legacy, MAS will soon republish a summary of that lecture, which reflected his enduring belief in the Arab people's right to development, freedom, and dignity. The Institute will receive public condolences on Monday May 5 from 1400-1700, and also plans to organize a memorial ceremony in honor of his life, to be announced in due course.

May Dr. Fadle Al-Naqib rest in eternal peace. May his legacy continue to inspire us in the pursuit of knowledge, integrity, and justice.

“Surely, we belong to God, and to Him we shall return.”