Lana Nusseibeh...an Emirati diplomat with Jerusalemite roots competing for the United Nations secretariat

Jerusalem - Ofoq News - On Wednesday, prominent Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh joined the race to compete for the position of next Secretary-General of the United Nations, adding a prominent candidate from the Middle East to a race that has not yet witnessed Security Council members agreeing on a single candidate.

Nusseibeh was born in Abu Dhabi in 1978, but her family history begins in Jerusalem. Her father, Zaki Nusseibeh, was born in the city in 1946.

When the Six-Day War broke out, he was a student in Cambridge, England. The war disrupted his plans to return home, so he traveled to Abu Dhabi with a collection of about 100 books.

There he first worked as a journalist, including for Western media, and later became the personal translator and one of the closest advisors to Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the United Arab Emirates. He has maintained a close relationship with the ruling family for decades, and now holds the position of cultural advisor to the head of state.

In a family that has been involved in politics, religion, and the fate of Jerusalem for generations, Lana initially wanted to choose a different path. "Like any normal girl, I thought I would do the exact opposite," she previously said of her family's tradition of diplomacy.

Lana attended the prestigious girls' boarding school Wycombe Abbey in England, then studied history at Cambridge University, then chose a field of study that was surprising for the daughter of a Palestinian family: a master's degree in Israel and Diaspora Studies from the University of London, from which she graduated with honors in 2003. In addition to Arabic and English, Lana also speaks French and Hebrew.

Nusseibeh, who served as the UAE's ambassador to the United Nations for more than a decade, told Reuters that she would seek to restore the international organization's role as a diplomatic body to solve problems at a time of escalating global crises.

“It is clear that today we need a Secretary-General who is able to recommit to the future of multilateralism and the future of the United Nations as a problem solver rather than a mere spectator of the world’s crises,” she said shortly before announcing her candidacy.

A group of people were late to join the race. Sources reported that an informal poll conducted by the Security Council showed that former Vice President of Costa Rica Rebecca Greenspan is leading the race by a small margin.

Although Greenspan topped the "informal polls", she and all the other candidates last week received two or more opposing votes from the five permanent members of the Council who will have the final say in the end - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Nusseibeh (48 years old) said that several countries contacted her during the work of the United Nations General Assembly to move forward towards candidacy. She previously led the UAE's successful campaign for Security Council membership. Diplomats in New York say she is respected and competent.

She went on to say, "There is a realization today that we need someone to bring change that expresses a new generation in the organization."

Her tenure at the United Nations coincided with the outbreak of the Gaza War in 2023, when she worked to ensure the adoption of Resolution 2720, which paved the way for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Nusseibeh said she secured support for the resolution after she arranged a visit for council members to the Rafah border crossing to see the situation on the ground for themselves, and described the move as part of the “creative, proactive diplomacy” that characterizes her approach.

From Israel's perspective, its record is complicated. Nusseibeh has maintained relationships with Jewish organizations over the years, and after the Abraham Accords, she participated in meetings with leaders of the Jewish community in the United States.

After the October 7 attack, it explicitly condemned the killing of Israeli civilians and hostage-taking, and made clear that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.

On the other hand, Israel was accused of indiscriminately bombing Gaza, demanded a ceasefire, and strongly opposed the possibility of annexing territory in the West Bank. In September last year, it warned that annexing lands in the West Bank would represent a “red line” for the UAE and could destroy Israel’s vision of regional integration.

She said: “There is still a hand extended to Israel in the region, despite all this suffering, but annexation will lead to the withdrawal of this hand.” She also expressed her hope that Trump, who signed the Abraham Accords in his first term, would not allow what she considers to be one of his most important achievements to be undermined.