Naïm Khader was the PLO’s first representative to the Belgian and European authorities. He arrived in Belgium in 1966 to study law at the UCL, where he obtained a doctorate in law, followed by one in international law. In 1968, following Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, he joined Fatah and soon became the PLO’s unofficial representative when this role was officially recognised by Belgium in 1976. He took part in numerous diplomatic missions within the framework of the Euro-Arab Dialogue, working with the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and, above all, the European Commission and the European Parliament, where he forged many contacts.

An advocate for the creation of a secular and democratic Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel, he campaigned for peace and dialogue. He maintained friendly relations with members of Belgium’s Jewish community and helped establish the Belgian-Palestinian Association in 1976, notably alongside Marcel Liebman and Pierre Galand, with the aim of promoting recognition of the Palestinian cause in Europe.

On 1 June 1981, he was shot dead in the street, outside his home in Ixelles. The judicial inquiry never identified those who ordered the attack. The Naïm Khader Foundation, established after his death, merged with the Belgian-Palestinian Association a few years later. 

In 2001 and 2006, various commemorative events were organised in Belgium by Belgian civil society and political groups to mark the 20th and 25th anniversaries of the assassination. In 2003, the municipality of Ixelles twinned with the municipality of Zababdeh, the birthplace of Naïm Khader. In May 2024, during the occupation of the Pierre de Coubertin lecture theatre in Louvain-la-Neuve by students from UCLouvain to protest against the bombing of Gaza and in support of the Palestinian cause, the theatre was renamed the ‘Naïm Khader lecture hall’ by the students.