Mahmoud al-Zahar
Encyclopedia
Mahmoud al-Zahar (born 1945) is a co-founder of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

. Since the formation of the Hamas/"Change and Reform" government in the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

 in March 2006, al-Zahar has served as foreign minister in the government of prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. Prior to that he was seen as a major candidate among the Hamas members elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...

 for prime minister, as he was at that time the most senior official within the organization. al-Zahar's son, a member of the Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...

, was killed in an Israeli raid in Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

 on January 5, 2008.

Early life

Little is known about al-Zahar's early life beyond the report that he was born to a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 father and an Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian mother.

At the age of 26, he graduated from the Cairo University
Cairo University
Cairo University is a public university located in Giza, Egypt.The university was founded on December 21, 1908, as the result of an effort to establish a national center for educational thought...

 Faculty of Medicine and five years later he got his Masters Degree in General Surgery
General surgery
General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g., intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland . They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft...

 from Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University is an institute of higher education located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels.-History:...

, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

. 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.

Family

Al-Zahar has had four children with his wife Summaya, including their first son, Khaled, born in 1974, a daughter Rima born in 1983 and the youngest, Hussam, who was killed in a raid in January 2008. His son Khaled was also killed by Israeli forces, in a failed 2003 assassination attempt on al-Zahar's life.

Hamas

Instrumental to the creation of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 in 1987, al-Zahar has remained a senior official and spokesperson for the group and is rumoured to have succeeded to leadership of the group following Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

's assassination of Ahmed Yassin
Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization...

 in 2004. Hamas routinely denied this rumour, but refused to name who their new leader was, for fear of Israeli action.

The most notable attempt on al-Zahar's life was on September 10, 2003, when Israeli F-16s dropped a large bomb over his house in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

, which only managed to slightly wound him, while his 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. The resulting funeral was attended by over two thousand mourners, who called on Hamas to avenge the deaths.

On January 15, 2008, al-Zahar's son Hussam was reportedly killed in an IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

 air strike on a car full of Hamas militants in northern Gaza.

In 2010, al-Zahar revealed to the press that Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...

 had instructed Hamas to launch militant attacks—including suicide bombings-- against Israel in 2000, due to peace talks not going anywhere.

Foreign Minister

On March 20, 2006, Hamas named al-Zahar foreign minister. al-Zahar's main challenge has been to break the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Haniyeh government. Al-Zahar was a strange choice for the position; he is a wanted man according to Israeli security forces, and it has been confirmed that he actively encouraged and planned attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets during and before the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...

 (BBC News, 27 January 2006). Added to that was the fact despite the great variety of Palestinian diplomats available to serve as foreign minister, in the end Hamas chose al-Zahar, who is a novice in the field, and whose belligerent character in the past could damage Hamas in its venture to acquire a new image as a responsible political movement. Unlike Haniyeh, who never was involved in Hamas's armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...

, al-Zahar had long ties to the group, and helped form it, though he never became a commander in it.

Hardline position

In internal Hamas politics, al-Zahar is today considered one of its more stubborn hard-liners. While Hamas as a whole rejects the legitimacy of the existence of Israel, demands the Right of Return
Right of return
The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...

 and Jerusalem as the capital of the new Palestinian state, and calls for the release of all Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, it is divided as to the means of attaining these goals. The political wing has in the past expressed willingness to negotiate with Israel for a long-term ceasefire and territorial concessions, and then to consider recognition of Israel. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and their leader Muhammad Deif maintain that only continuous attrition will force Israel to release detainees and give in. Al-Zahar tends to agree with the latter, and he represented within the Haniyeh government the most prominent hawk.

Al-Zahar can also be considered the top Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

-based ally of Khaled Meshal and Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, the heads of the Hamas "State Bureau" who most contend today are the true leadership of the movement since the assassination of Ahmad Yassin and his spokesman Abdelaziz Rantisi. If Meshal is indeed the true head of the movement, then the true power of Prime Minister Haniyeh is actually negligible and the legitimacy of the Palestinian government is questionable. The possibility that any decisions made by Haniyeh carry no weight within Hamas would undermine any policies he enacts, and would cast serious doubt as to whether he really governed the PNA, or if true control rested in Meshal or PNA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...

. After the Hamas takeover of Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Haniyeh-led Hamas government and appointed a new cabinet run by Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

 and Independents to govern.

On 14 June 2006, Palestinian officials reported that Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar brought twelve suitcases stuffed with US$26.7 million in cash into Gaza through its border with Egypt, which is controlled by Palestinian guards loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...

 of Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

. Al-Zahar was at least the third known Hamas official to be caught with large sums of cash: Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri
Sami Abu Zuhri
Sami Abu Zuhri is a senior spokesman for the Palestinian political party Hamas. Zuhri, a relatively unknown member of Hamas, gained notoriety on May 19, 2006, when Palestinian security and customs officials discovered he had 640,000 euros on his person; another report claimed he held a larger sum...

 had been stopped the previous month.

In a public address broadcast on Hamas's "Al-Aqsa" TV channel on 5 November 2010 (as translated by MEMRI) al-Zahar appeared to justify the persecution of Jews down the ages and to promise that the Jews were destined to be annihilated. Al-Zahar stated that "We are no weaker or less honorable than the peoples that expelled and annihilated the Jews. The day we expel them is drawing near... We extended our hands to feed these hungry dogs and wild beasts, and they devoured our fingers. We have learned the lesson – there is no place for you among us, and you have no future among the nations of the world. You are headed to annihilation."

Incitement controversy

During the 2008-2009 Gaza War in which it is estimated that 1,200 or more Palestinians (of whom 412 were children and a hundred were women) and 13 Israelis died, 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." This remark was widely reported as advocating the "murder" of Jewish children worldwide. Maajid Nawaz
Maajid Nawaz
Maajid Nawaz is a British Pakistani and former member of the Islamic political group Hizb ut-Tahrir. He holds a B.A. from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies and a M.Sc. in Political Theory from the London School of Economics...

 condemned the remarks as "depraved" and "perverse al-Qaida 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."
Basim Naim, the minister of health in the Hamas government in Gaza, claimed that as-Zahar's statements had been mistranslated:
Through flagrant misquotation and mistranslation, they have falsely claimed that Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar has called for the killing of Jewish children around the world and attacks on synagogues.


He did no such thing – nor would any Hamas spokesman...What Dr Zahar did do is 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. That is not the call of Hamas. Dr Zahar did not even mention "Jews" in his comments.

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 Park 51 near the World Trade Center site
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...

. Zahar, endorsed the building, by saying, "We have to build the mosque as you are allowed to build the church and the Israeli are building their holy places. We have to build everywhere — in every area we have muslims, we have to pray, and this mosque is the only site of prayer especially for the people when they are looking to be in the group — not individual".

External links

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