The Late Abdul Aziz Shakhshir
Mr. Abdul Aziz Shakhshir (Abu Akram) was born in Jerusalem in 1925. Like hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians, Mr. Shakhshir was displaced from Palestine as a result of the Nakba. He moved to Jordan after being attacked by gunshot for the third time. He met and married his life partner Lamis in Jordan. The couple eventually moved to Kuwait in 1957 where Mr. Shakhshir started several entrepreneurial endeavors. He stayed in Kuwait until the year 1990, during this period he expanded his business activities to include Lebanon and Libya.
Mr. Shakhshir’s devoted a significant amount of his time and resources to the strife for Palestine’s development. Being a strong advocate of the right to a quality education, one of his most noteworthy contributions has been his support of Palestinian university students; he has financed the university education of hundreds of Palestinians, as a means of investing in Palestine’s and the region’s human capital.
Mr. Shakhshir was one of the founding members of the Welfare Association; his insights and investments have contributed to the different phases of the Association’s development across the years. Mr. Shakhshir passed away on the 18th of May 2006; his sons, however, sustain his legacy of devotion to Palestine and to the Welfare Association. One of their most generous contributions has been the establishment of the Welfare Association Achievement Award, which we named after Mr. Shakhshir in honor of his invaluable contributions to Palestine and Palestinians.