Balawi was born in the town of Bal'a, near Tulkarm in British Mandate Palestine in 1938.

[2] Balawi was the deputy head of the central information committee of Fatah from 1968 to 1978.

His political career began when he was assigned as the Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to Libya from 1973 to 1975,[2] after which he became a staunch Fatah activist and then was the PLO's ambassador to Tunisia from 1983 to 1994.

[1] Yasser Arafat assigned Balawi the cabinet post of Interior Minister of the Palestinian National Authority in November 2003.

[1] During Arafat's presidency of the PNA and his chairmanship of the PLO, Balawi was said to be a "loyalist".