Mona Ziade, who helped shape AP’s Middle East coverage in the 1980s and ’90s, dies at 65

Mona Ziade, who covered major events middle east For the Associated Press during the 1980s and ’90s, including the taking of Western hostages during the Lebanese Civil War and the Arab-Israel Peace talks, died on Tuesday. She was 65 years old.

Ziyade died at his home beirut He recovered from complications of lung cancer after months of treatment, his daughter, Tamara Blanch, said.

Ziyade, a dual citizen lebanon And JordanBegan his journalism career with United Press International in Beirut in 1978 before joining the AP four years later. He spent most of his career covering Lebanon’s 15-year civil war and Palestinian affairs.

This included closely covering the Palestine Liberation Organization when it was based in Lebanon and later Tunisia, providing the AP with many scoops through its excellent source work within the group. When PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed a historic peace accord at the White House in 1993, Ziade was there.

“Mona was a brash, hard-charging young reporter in an international press corps full of ambitious journalists,” said Robert H. Reed, the AP’s former Middle East regional editor, who recalled that her strong sources were a major asset in both breaking news and keeping AP’s journalists safe.

While covering the Lebanese civil war, Ziade’s boss, AP Chief Middle East correspondent Terry Anderson, was kidnapped in Beirut in 1985. He was detained for seven years, becoming one of the longest-held American hostages in history.

Months after Anderson’s kidnapping, the AP moved its Middle East headquarters from Beirut to the Cyprus capital, Nicosia. Ziade moved there in 1986 and later married longtime AP correspondent Ed Blanch, who served as the agency’s Middle East editor for 10 years.

Ziade left AP in 1996 to resettle in Beirut with his family. He and Blanche helped relaunch Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper, which had ceased publication at the height of the civil war. Ziade served as national editor of the English-language daily before becoming managing editor.

She left the Daily Star in 2003 and went to work as a communications officer in the Lebanon office of the World Bank.

Her daughter said, “Mom paved the way for so many women to pursue careers in journalism and social justice. She was so happy and proud to see the new generation step up and see Lebanon and the region move forward in this new environment.”

According to his daughter, Ziade was born on December 23, 1959 in Benghazi, Libya.

Before starting his career, Ziade studied communications and political science at Beirut University College, now known as the Lebanese American University.

Ed Blanch died in Beirut in 2019 after a long battle with cancer. The couple is survived by their daughter Tamara and two sons, Jay and Lee, from Ed Blanch’s previous marriage.

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This story has been updated to make Ziyade’s age 65, not 66.