Majallie Whbee
Majallie WhbeeIsrael news photo: Flash 90

MK Majallie Whbee (Kadima) has been invited to participate in the 66th session of the  United Nations General Assembly in New York, and to visit with U.S. government officials in Washington, D.C.

The invitation to Whbee was issued by U.N. Secretary -General Ban Ki-moon due to his position as deputy president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM).

Whbee will meet with senior U.N. and U.S. officials, and said he will attempt to sway them against supporting the PA bid for U.N. recognition as a new country and membership in its ranks. Earlier this year he managed to stop a EUROMED conference from approving a resolution backing the PA's unilateral bid for statehood.

The MK said he will use his rich political experience to defend Israel's position and explain the importance of the peace process.

He added that he will also take the opportunity to warn officials about the full implications of a unilateral declaration by the Palestinian Authority of a independent state.

Whbee was born in Israel in 1954 in the Druze village of Beit Jan. He served in the IDF, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He holds a Bachelors Degree in political science and the history of Islam and the Middle East from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Masters Degree in the History of the New Middle East from Haifa University.

The MK has served as a member of the Knesset since January 2003, when he was elected to the parliament as a member of the Likud faction. Whbee has served as deputy prime minsiter, deputy minister of education, culture and sport, and deputy minister of foreign affairs. He later helped found the Kadima party and was re-elected to the Knesset in 2006 under that banner.