Birth: NULL/NULL/1933 Death:NULL/NULL/1996
Born in Nazareth in 1933; grew up in Gaza; attended Imam Al-Shafi’e School in Gaza, then the National Secondary School in Hilwan, south of Cairo; joined the Faculty of Law at Cairo University, graduating with an LLB in 1954; earned the lawyers license in Nov. 1955 and began practicing law; enrolled for an MA in Economy at Cairo University in Jan. 1956 but was arrested by the Israelis during the Suez/Sinai War with Egypt that same year; was among the founders and editor-in-chief of Al-Tahrir (Liberation) from 1957-60; was a founding member and Deputy Secretary of the Arab Lawyers’ Union from 1959-63; launched Akhbar Alloum newspaper in 1961 (together with a publishing house in Cairo); was a member of the Exec. Council of the National Union under Egyptian rule in Gaza from 1961-65 and member of its Legislative Council from 1962-65; published and edited Akhbar Filastin newspaper in Gaza from 1963-1967 and served as its Board Chairman from 1963-65; founding member of the Arab Journalists Union in Kuwait in 1965, and served as its Deputy-Secretary until 1967; was Secretary of the PLO subsidiary Palestinian Council for Operation Solidarity from 1965-67; served as Sec.-Gen. of the Palestinian Council of World Peace from 1965-67; PNC member; established ties with historic leaders like Gamal Abdul-Nasser, Fidel Castro, Sukarno and Che Guevara; was a Board of Trustees member of Birzeit University from 1972; published a local magazine, Ulum, in Gaza from 1975-87; was a member of the Editorial Board of Al-Fajr newspaper and served as its Chairman from 1976-79; was arrested by Israel in 1978 at the beginning of the Camp David talks; was a member of the National Guidance Committee from 1979-82 and placed as such under town arrest in 1979; established and co-edited – with Hanna Siniora – a weekly periodical, Al-Mawkef, from 1979-87; was banned from traveling from 1980 until the early 1990s; served as member of the Board of Directors of the Gaza Center for Rights and Law since 1985; continued his studies and received a PhD in Philosophy from the California University of Advanced Studies in 1988; co-established the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem in 1989; died on 26 May 1996.
