Israel’s Palestinian Museum north of Jerusalem has appointed a new director just days before the institution opens to the public.

Dr Mahmoud Hawari – a research associate at the University of Oxford's Khalili Research Centre who is also a visiting academic at the British Museum in London – will head up the landmark museum, due to open on 18 May.

Working at the Khalili Research Centre, Hawari’s primary research interests and specialisms were concerned with Islamic archaeology, art and architecture of the pre-modern Islamic Middle East, with a specialist focus on archaeology.

Hawari has previously led several archeology projects in Palestine, including excavations at Khirbat al Mafjar in Jericho from 2009 to 2014. Since then, Hawari has operated as a consultant for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos).

The US$60m, (€55m, £40m) project, which has the intention of creating an iconic building to act as a beacon of hope for the Palestinian people, was first mooted in 1999 but has been stalled multiple times due to political tensions in the region.

Heneghan Peng were appointed in 2011 to draw up the masterplan for the site, which sits next to Birzeit University in north Ramallah. The site is formed through a series of terraces, created by stone walls, designed to echo the agricultural terraces of the region.

Since not all of the museum’s target audience will be able to visit the West Bank, satellite sites have been set up in key cities with large Palestinian communities – Jerusalem, Gaza, Haifa, Beirut, Amman, Dubai, London, San Diego, and Santiago. Beirut and Santiago will open first, with the other sites to come at a later date. The approach is necessary for Gaza, since people are rarely permitted to visit or leave the area.

“In spite of the great pride and excitement that I feel, I am also fully aware of the very significant challenges ahead, especially if the Palestinian Museum is to achieve its goals in the face of the continuing Israeli occupation – namely to act as a unifying platform for Palestinians who are dispersed in many parts of their fragmented homeland and abroad, and to support and strengthen Palestinian culture and identity,” said Hawari, who replaces Jack Persekian after he stepped down in December.

“This will be a museum that overcomes political and geographical borders, and links Palestinians together, at home and in exile, wherever they may live.”