From 2003 to 2006 she served as the Minister of Women Affairs in the Palestinian National Authority.

[3] Zahira was born in 1945 in Wadi al-Joz, East Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine.

She received her Bachelor degree from the Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt.

She was the General Director of the UNESCO project Palestinian Women’s Research and Documentation Centre.

She served as the Minister of Women Affairs in the Palestinian Cabinet, the first one to hold that Ministerial portfolio.