Overview
- Her sister confirmed the death to AFP, and a source close to the investigation said her body was discovered in La Lèque, Lussan, in southern France.
- Preliminary findings indicate an apparent suicide, and authorities have launched a probe to determine the cause of death.
- Shahid was the first woman to represent the Palestine Liberation Organization abroad, beginning in Ireland in 1989 and later serving in the Netherlands and Denmark.
- She led the Palestinian delegation in France from 1994 to 2005 and then represented Palestine to the European Union in Brussels for roughly a decade.
- Reports note she had been gravely ill for years, and tributes from Palestinian and French figures—including Mahmoud Abbas, Hala Abou‑Hassira, the Institut du Monde Arabe, Dominique de Villepin and Martine Aubry—praised her lifelong advocacy for peace and justice.