Middle East Monitor / November 24, 2020
US President-elect Joe Biden appointed a longtime Palestinian-American Capitol Hill aide as the deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.
Born to Jordanian-Palestinian immigrants in the US, Reema Dodin’s family is originally from Dura, near occupied Hebron.
She will be the first Palestinian-American to serve as a White House staffer, reported Wafa news agency.
“The American people are eager for our Administration to get to work, and today’s appointees will help advance our agenda and ensure every American has a fair shot,” Biden said in a statement.
“In a Biden administration, we will have an open door to the Hill and this team will make sure their views are always represented in the White House.”
Dodin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and serves as deputy chief of staff and floor director to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the assistant minority leader.
“Reema began as a law school intern in my office fourteen years ago and progressed to become one of the most respected staffers on the Hill,” Durbin said.
“She is smart, trusted and has the respect of members and staff on both sides of the aisle.”
She is also a Truman National Security Fellow, a New Leaders Council Fellow, an Aspen Socrates alum, a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Jenkins Hill Society – a consortium of women in politics supporting female politicians.
According to the Independent, about a dozen other senior White House staffers have also been announced by the president-elect.
