Born in Zababdeh near Jenin on 30 Dec. 1939 into a Christian family; received his primary education in Zababdeh; his father was wounded in 1946 and taken to Jenin to be hospitalized but did not survive the trip and disappeared. Later on, he was sent to the Latin Theological Seminary in Beit Jala in 1958, where education was focused on the study of theology, philosophy and music, he completed his studies in 1964.
He worked in the Terra Sancta High School in Amman, Jordan in 1964, teaching Religion, Arabic and English, and later French and Music to Christian religious schools until 1965. He took some courses by Latin Fathers in Jerusalem in 1965 then he went to study to Paris but could not live there. Khader returned to Jerusalem but soon after he went to Belgium to study at the Faculty of Law at Louvain University; in 1966. He became the President of the Union of Arab Students there. Naim Khader joined Fateh following the events of 1967 and was appointed its representative to Belgium in 1969. He received a PhD in International Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). In 1970 he served in the Saudi Arabian representative office, then in the Arab League office, 1971.
He worked for a European recognition of the PLO, especially during the European Summit on 14-15 Dec. 1973, which later led to the EU’s Venice Declaration in 1980; was PLO representative in Brussels from 1975, incl. representing the PLO at the European Parliament. He was invited to a conference organized by the Jewish Progressive Union of Belgium on 10 May 1976, which led to the recognition of the PLO by the first Jewish organization in Belgium, he contributed to the recognition of the Belgian government of the PLO in Oct. He even achieved more important successes for the organization in Europe, such as the official recognition of the PLO as an independent member within the Asian Group and in the Group of 77 (the Non-Aligned Group).
1976and the opening of the first PLO office in Brussels on 18 Nov. 1976, he was deeply involved in Arab-European dialogue since 1976; co-edited, with Fawzi Al-Asmar, the book Towards a Socialist Republic of Palestine in 1978. He was assassinated in Brussels on 1 June 1981 by a gunman and later on, Israel confessed assassinating him.
The body of the martyr Naim Khader was transferred to Beirut, where he was received at Beirut airport by President Yasser Arafat, and a memorial festival was held for him, and then he was transferred to Amman, where he was buried, because the Israeli authorities did not agree to bury him in his hometown in Zababdeh based on his will.
