Mahmoud al-Zahar

Last updated

Mahmoud al-Zahar
محمود الزهار
Mahmoud al-Zahar at the 5th International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, Tehran (2).jpg
al-Zahar in 2011
Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority
In office
20 March 2006 –18 March 2007
ProfessionPhysician

Mahmoud al-Zahar (Arabic : محمود الزهارMaḥmūd az-Zahhār; born 6 May 1945) is a Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. Al-Zahar served as foreign minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006 (also known as the First Haniyeh Government) that was sworn in on 20 March 2006.

Contents

Early life

Little is known about al-Zahar's early life beyond the fact that he was born in Gaza City in 1945, and the report that he was born to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother.

At the age of 26, he graduated from the Cairo University Faculty of Medicine and five years later he got his master's degree in General Surgery from Ain Shams University, Cairo. He then became the adviser to the Palestinian Health Minister, and helped create the Palestinian Medical Society and was one of the primary founders of the Islamic University in Gaza in 1978.

Career with Hamas

Al-Zahar was instrumental in the creation of Hamas in 1987. Prior to his Hamas career, he had been a surgeon [1] and worked in Palestinian cities such as Khan Yunis, but was dismissed from this position by Israeli authorities for political reasons. [2] He was detained by Israeli authorities in 1988, and eventually exiled to Lebanon along with a large number of other Islamist activists in 1992. [3] He returned to Gaza after about a year. In response to a campaign of suicide bombings by the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades (IQB), on 10 September 2003 an Israeli F-16 dropped a large bomb over his house in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, which only managed to slightly wound him, while his eldest son Khaled, and a personal bodyguard were killed, and twenty others wounded including his daughter Rima. His house was destroyed, and ten other houses nearby were damaged, as well as the nearby Al-Rahman mosque. [4] The resulting funeral was attended by over two thousand mourners, who called on Hamas to avenge the deaths.

Al-Zahar has remained a senior official and spokesperson for the group and was rumoured to have succeeded to leadership of the group following Israel's assassination of Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Hamas routinely denied this rumour, but refused to name who their new leader was, for fear of Israeli action. Al-Zahar was elected for Hamas to the Palestinian Legislative Council at the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, and continues to be a member (as no elections for the PLC have taken place since). He was foreign minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006 (also known as the First Haniyeh Government) that was sworn in on 20 March 2006. Al-Zahar's main challenge was to break the United States-led diplomatic boycott of the Haniyeh government. On 14 June 2006, Palestinian officials reported that al-Zahar brought twelve suitcases stuffed with US$26.7 million in cash into Gaza through its border with Egypt, which was controlled by Palestinian Authority forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Al-Zahar was at least the third known Hamas official to be caught with large sums of cash: Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri had been stopped the previous month. [5]

On 15 January 2008, al-Zahar's son Hussam, a member of IQB, was reportedly killed in an IDF air strike [3] on a car full of Hamas fighters in northern Gaza.

In 2010, al-Zahar revealed to the press that Yasser Arafat had instructed Hamas to launch militant attacks—including suicide bombings—against Israel in 2000, due to peace talks not going anywhere. [6]

Al-Zahar was interviewed by Sky News following the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis. He described the two-state solution as "a failed process" that would never be accepted by Israel and stated that the State of Israel did not have a right to exist, describing it as a "settlement". Asked about accusations that Hamas had targeted Israeli civilians, al-Zahar denied the claims, and also denied when asked that Hamas is anti-Semitic: "We are not against Jews because Jews were living this area for many centuries. I'm speaking about occupation." [7]

During the Israel–Hamas war, the United Kingdom placed economic sanctions on al-Zahar. [8]

Incitement controversy

During the 2008–2009 Gaza War, al-Zahar, during a television broadcast, was reported to have said that the Israelis "have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine... They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people." [9] This remark was widely reported as advocating the "murder" of Jewish children worldwide. [10] [11] [12] Maajid Nawaz condemned the remarks as "depraved" and "perverse Al-Qaeda logic," writing that, as opposed to Hamas, "Israel does not have an active policy of deliberately capturing children to murder them, or even deliberately murdering civilians for that matter." [13] Basim Naim, the minister of health in the Hamas government in Gaza, said Zahar's statements had been misquoted and mistranslated, and that what he did was to "warn that by carrying out these barbaric massacres of children and women, and by destroying our mosques, the Zionists are creating the conditions for people to believe it is justified or legitimate to take revenge....Dr Zahar did not even mention 'Jews' in his comments". [14]

Park51 endorsement

In an interview on New York's WABC radio, al-Zahar was asked by Aaron Klein to comment on the construction of the mosque Park51 near the World Trade Center site. Zahar, endorsed the building. [15] [16] [17]

Personal life

Al-Zahar has had four children with his wife Summaya. [18] On 10 September 2003, his eldest son Khaled was killed in an Israeli air strike. His other son, a member of Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by Israeli fire in Gaza on 15 January 2008. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamas</span> Palestinian political and military organization

Hamas, an acronym of its official name, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military movement governing the occupied Gaza Strip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades</span> Military wing of the Palestinian Hamas organization

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades ;, named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, is the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. Currently led by Mohammed Deif and his deputy, Marwan Issa, IQB is the largest and best-equipped militant group operating within Gaza today.

Said Seyam, first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became one of its top commanders. During the 2008–2009 Gaza War, Seyam was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia. Seyam was the most senior Hamas member killed in the war, and the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in April 2004.

The Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006, also known as the First Haniyeh Government, was a government of the Palestinian National Authority (PA), led by Ismail Haniyeh, that was sworn in on 29 March 2006 and was followed by the Palestinian unity government of 17 March 2007. On 25 January 2006, Hamas won the election for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) with 44.4% of the vote vs Fatah's 41.4%, and its leader Haniyeh formed the government, which comprised mostly Hamas members as well as four independents, after Fatah and other factions had refused to form a government with Hamas. It was the first Hamas-led PA government in the Palestinian territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in the State of Palestine</span> State of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as determined by Palestinian authorities

The state of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is determined by Palestinian as well as Israeli policies, which affect Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories both directly and indirectly, through their influence over the Palestinian Authority (PA). Based on The Economist Democracy Index this state is classified as an authoritarian regime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Israeli operation in Beit Hanoun</span> Military offensive in the Gaza strip

In 2006 the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation "Autumn Clouds" beginning on 1 November 2006, following numerous rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, when the Israeli Defense Forces entered the Gaza Strip triggering sporadic fighting near Beit Hanoun. The operation was the first military endeavor undertaken by the Israeli military since Operation "Summer Rains" in the summer of 2006. The operation was launched to stop Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fatah–Hamas conflict</span> Palestinian factional conflict since 2006

The Fatah–Hamas conflict is an ongoing political and strategic conflict between Fatah and Hamas, the two main Palestinian political parties in the Palestinian territories, leading to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The reconciliation process and unification of Hamas and Fatah administrations remains unfinalized and the situation is deemed a frozen conflict.

The History of Hamas is an account of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organization with an associated paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas (حماس) Ḥamās is an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement".

Emad Akel also spelled Imad Akel was a commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He was killed by the Israel Defense Forces.

Events in the year 2008 in the Palestinian territories.

Events in the year 2007 in the Palestinian territories.

The August 2010 West Bank shooting attack was an attack near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, carried out by Hamas militants. Four Israeli settlers from the settlements of Beit Hagai and Efrat were killed after militants attacked their vehicle. It was the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israelis in over two years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Gaza cross-border raid</span> Palestinian attack on Israeli border post

The 2006 Gaza cross-border raid was an armed incursion carried out by seven or eight Gazan Palestinian militants on 25 June 2006 who attacked Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions near the Kerem Shalom Crossing through an attack tunnel. In the attack, two IDF soldiers and two Palestinian militants were killed, four IDF soldiers were wounded, one of whom was Gilad Shalit, who was captured and taken to the Gaza Strip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abduction and killing of Nissim Toledano</span> 1992 abduction and murder of an Israeli border policeman by Palestinian Hamas militants

The abduction and killing of Nissim Toledano began on 13 December 1992, when a squad of Hamas abducted Israeli border policeman Senior Sergeant Nissim Toledano in Lod, Israel. Although the captors demanded the release of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin for Toledano, Toledano was killed by his captors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Governance of the Gaza Strip</span> Political situation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza since the 2007 takeover by Hamas

The governance of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 has been carried out by Hamas. The Hamas government in Gaza was led by Ismail Haniyeh from 2007 until February 2017, when Haniyeh was replaced as leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip by Yahya Sinwar. As of November 2023, Yahya Sinwar continues to be the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas control of the northern part of the Gaza Strip came to an end in January 2024, according to Israeli government statements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority</span> Former official head of government of the Palestinian Authority government

The prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority was the position of the official head of government of the Palestinian Authority government, which operated between 2003 and January 2013, when it was officially transformed into the State of Palestine. Some still refer to the position of the prime minister of the Gaza Strip as the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Gaza (2007)</span> Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip from Fatah

The Battle of Gaza was a military conflict between Fatah and Hamas that took place in the Gaza Strip from 10 to 15 June 2007. It was a prominent event in the Fatah–Hamas conflict, centered on the struggle for power after Fatah lost the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. The battle resulted in the dissolution of the unity government and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities: the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and the Gaza Strip governed by Hamas. Hamas fighters took control of the Gaza Strip, while Fatah officials were either taken as prisoners, executed, or expelled. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that at least 161 people were killed and more than 700 were wounded during the fighting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ismail Haniyeh</span> Palestinian politician, chairman of Hamas political bureau (born 1962)

Ismail Haniyeh is a Palestinian politician who is a senior political leader of Hamas, the current chairman of Hamas’s political bureau; as of 2023, Haniyeh lives in Qatar.

Aside from its use of political violence in pursuit of its goals, the Palestinian political and military organization Hamas has been widely criticised for a variety of reasons, including its:

References

  1. ↑ Remnick, David (28 October 2023). "Grief and Rage in Israel and Gaza". The New Yorker.
  2. ↑ Alshawabkeh, Lina (17 October 2023). "Hamas: Who are the group's most prominent leaders?". BBC News.
  3. 1 2 "Mahmoud al-Zahar (Hamas) – Mapping Palestinian Politics – European Council on Foreign Relations". 9 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Middle East | Profile: Hamas' Mahmoud Zahhar". BBC News. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Hamas minister carries millions of dollars into Gaza", ABC News, reported 14 June 2006 Archived 15 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Arafat ordered Hamas attacks against Israel in 2000", Jerusalem Post, reported 29 June 2010 [[]] []
  7. ↑ Stone, Mark (24 May 2021). "Israel-Hamas ceasefire 'will hold for now but no peace with Israel without justice for Palestinians', Hamas co-founder says". Sky News.
  8. ↑ Daly, Patrick (13 December 2023). "UK announces fresh Hamas sanctions as Sunak hints at Royal Navy role in Gaza aid". Evening Standard.
  9. ↑ "Al Jazeera". English.aljazeera.net. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "UK TimesOnline". Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ↑ "Hamas terror: every Jewish child now a target". Theaustralian.news.com.au. 27 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009.
  12. ↑ "Hamas leader: Revenge for Israels". The Telegraph. 6 January 2009.
  13. ↑ Nawaz, Maajid (7 January 2009). "Mahmoud Zahar has betrayed his people". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  14. ↑ Naim, Basim (13 January 2009). "We believe in resistance, not revenge". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  15. ↑ "Ground Zero mosque row to become muddier as Hamas pitches in with support – International Business Times". International Herald Tribune. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  16. ↑ Archived 19 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ Paul Woodward (16 August 2010). "Hamas supports the right of Muslims to pray in mosques – even in New York". War in Context. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  18. ↑ "Israel to Make Gestures to Palestinians – New York Times". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ Kershner, Isabel (16 January 2008). "18 Palestinians Killed in Gaza Clashes". The New York Times. Gaza Strip;Israel. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.