Hayel Abdul Hamid

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Hayel Abdul Hamid
Born1937
Safed, Mandatory Palestine
Died14 January 1991 (aged 54–55)
Carthage, Tunisia
Cause of deathAssassination
Burial placeAmman, Jordan
NationalityPalestinian

Hayel Abdul Hamid, known as Abu al Hol, (Arabic: هايل عبد الحميد; 1937–1991) was a Palestinian who was a member of the Fatah. He served in its different agencies and was its security head. He was assassinated at his home in Carthage, Tunisia, on 14 January 1991 along with other Fatah members, Salah Khalaf and Fakhri Al Omari.

Early life and education[edit]

Abdul Hamid was born in Safed, Mandatory Palestine, in 1937.[1][2] The family had to leave their hometown in 1948 when Israel was established. They settled in the Yarmouk refuge camp in Damascus, Syria.[2]

Abdul Hamid completed his secondary education in Damascus.[3] He went to Frankfurt, Germany, for his undergraduate study where he became acquainted with the Fatah leadership.[3]

Career and activities[edit]

Abdul Hamid established an organization, the Arabs of Palestine, in Damascus which became part of the Fatah in 1960.[4] Therefore, he was one of the second-wave members of the group.[5] He established the Fatah cells in West Germany during his university studies.[6] He collaborated with another Fatah member, Hani Al Hassan, in these activities.[6] He joined the General Union of Palestinian Students in Cairo and was elected its president on the Fatah list in 1966.[7]

Abdul Hamid was the head of the Fatah forces in Egypt and Syria.[1] He was sent to China for leadership and military training in 1967.[2][8] He became the Fatah's secretary in Cairo in 1969[1] and later joined the Fatah's Lebanon branch in 1972.[4] He was appointed head of the Fatah's security agency in April 1973.[1][2]

Abdul Hamid settled in Tripoli in June 1983 after the Palestinian leaders left Beirut.[9] He and others had to leave Tripoli in December 1983 and went to Tunisia.[4] Following the assassination of Khalil Al Wazir in April 1988 Abdul Hamed became the commissioner of the Occupied Territory Agency and continued to lead the Fatah's security branch.[1][4] Abdul Hamid was elected to the Central Committee of Fatah in August 1989.[10]

Assassination[edit]

Abdul Hamid was assassinated at his home in Carthage, Tunisia, on 14 January 1991 along with Salah Khalaf and Fakhri Al Omari.[11][12] Both Khalaf and Al Omari died instantly, and Abdul Hamid died at Tawfik Hospital.[11][13] A funeral service was held for them in Amman where they were buried at the martyr's cemetery.[14]

The perpetrator was Hamza Abu Said, a Palestinian bodyguard, who had been born in Wahdat refuge camp, Jordan, in 1963.[11][13] He is thought to be recruited by the Abu Nidal Organization for this attack. He held Abdul Hamid's wife and daughter hostage for five hours.[13][15] Then he escaped from the site, but he was captured by the Tunisian security forces.[16]

Abu Said was interrogated and imprisoned by the Tunisian authorities. He declared during the interrogation that he was an agent of the Abu Nidal Organization.[17] Later the PLO leader Yasser Arafat managed to take him from the Tunisians through his meeting with the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.[13] Abu Said was transferred to Sanaa, Yemen, where he was questioned and tried by the PLO military tribunal and was given a death sentence.[13][18] He was found dead in his cell in June 1991.[13]

Legacy[edit]

The Hayel Abdel Hamid School in Beit Hanoun was established in memory of him.[19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Abdul Hamid, Hayel (Abu El Hawl) (1937-1991)". Passia. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Ilan Pappé; Johnny Mansour, eds. (2022). Historical Dictionary of Palestine (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1-5381-1986-0.
  3. ^ a b Joseph Ben Prestel (September 2022). "A Diaspora Moment". The American Historical Review. 127 (3): 1197, 1200. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhac260.
  4. ^ a b c d "Hayel Abdul Hamid (1937-1991)". Yasser Arafat Foundation. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  5. ^ Maher Charif. "The Palestinian National Liberation Movement – Fatah (I)". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question.
  6. ^ a b "Hani Al-Hassan: 1938-2012". Palestine News Network. 15 July 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ^ Saliem Wakeem Shehadeh (2023). Researching the General Union of Palestine Students from the Diaspora (PhD thesis). University of California, Los Angeles. p. 133. ISBN 9798379574369. ProQuest 2819139333.
  8. ^ Yezid Sayigh (1992). "Turning Defeat into Opportunity: The Palestinian Guerrillas after the June 1967 War". The Middle East Journal. 46 (2): 249–250. JSTOR 4328432.
  9. ^ Raphaël Lefèvre (2021). Jihad in the City: Militant Islam and Contentious Politics in Tripoli. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-1-108-42626-8.
  10. ^ Barry Rubin (2009). The Transformation of Palestinian Politics: From Revolution to State-Building. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-674-04295-7.
  11. ^ a b c Youssef M. Ibrahim (16 January 1991). "The P.L.O.; Suspicion in Palestinian Slayings Now Focuses on Abu Nidal Group". The New York Times. Cairo. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  12. ^ Elizabeth F. Thompson (2013). Justice Interrupted: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in the Middle East. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press. p. 270. doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674076099. ISBN 9780674073135.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Patrick Seale (1993). Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire. London: Arrow. pp. 35, 39. ISBN 9780099225713.
  14. ^ Edward Gorman (17 January 1991). "Alert over funerals of PLO men". The Times. Amman. p. 3. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  15. ^ Richard Owen; Penny Gibbins (16 January 1991). "Arabs defy curfew in violent aftermath of assassinations". The Times. No. 63916. Jerusalem; Tunis. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  16. ^ Edgar O'Ballance (1998). The Palestinian Intifada. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 95. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-26106-2. ISBN 978-1-349-26106-2.
  17. ^ David Pryce-Jones (13 February 1991). "Mossads under the bed". The Times. No. 64255. p. 34. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Chronology January 16, 1991-April 15, 1991". The Middle East Journal. 45 (3): 475–502. Summer 1991. JSTOR 4328317.
  19. ^ "Clashes result in 26 persons injured and damage to school building and two ambulances". Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. 12 June 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
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