Birth: 26/8/1958 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Umm Al-Fahm in 1958; schooled in Umm Al-Fahm; studied at the Shari’a College in Hebron, graduating in 1976; was imprisoned in 1981 for membership in the Islamist group Usrat Al-Jihad (the family of Jihad); was put under house arrest after his release; was denied to work as a teacher by the Israeli Education Dept.; wfrom 1986-88, when he ran for the local elections and became elected mayor of Umm Al-Fahm from 1989-2001; started a project in 1987, providing financial support for orphans and families of wounded, killed or imprisoned Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip (serving 13,000 orphans); heads the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel since 1996; opposed participation in the Israeli Parliament on the grounds that it would presuppose admission of the Zionist State; serves as Chairman of Al-Aqsa Foundation for the Restoration of the Islamic Holy Sites from 2002-2005; plays and important role in different charitable organizations inside the Green Line; has been actively involved in efforts to revive Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by encouraging Palestinians from inside the Green Line to pray there on Fridays; was several times interrogated by Israeli forces and banned from leaving the country as well as from lecturing at schools and universities; was arrested by Israeli police on 13 May 2003 on several charges, incl. conspiracy, receiving money from “illegal” sources abroad and funneling money to Hamas, thereby aiding “terror”; was convicted, imprisoned, and released after more than two years of detention on 17 July 2005, a day ahead of his scheduled release, but was banned from entering Jerusalem and reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque for four months after his release.
