Shoman, Abdul Majeed

▪ 2006

      Palestinian banker (b. 1912, Beit Hanina, near Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire [now in Israel]—d. July 5, 2005, Amman, Jordan), was a tireless supporter of Palestinian national aspirations and for 30 years the chairman of the Arab Bank, the largest privately owned bank in the Middle East. In 1936 Shoman joined the Arab Bank, which his father had founded in Jerusalem in 1930, but after the establishment of Israel in 1948, he moved the bank's headquarters to Amman. Shoman took over the chairmanship of the bank in 1974, and under his guidance it opened 378 branches in 27 countries. He was also the first chairman of the Palestine National Fund, and the Arab Bank managed the finances of both the fund and the family of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. Shoman headed a number of cultural and humanitarian organizations in support of Palestinian causes. He served in Jordan's Senate in 1987–90 and 1993–97.

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