Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Born in Rafah, Gaza, in 1951 to a family originating in Yabna (Al-Majdal); completed his basic education in the Gaza Strip; studied Engineering at Ein Shams University in Cairo, graduating in 1977; managed an aluminum factory in the UAE and worked as Engineer at the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Co. until 1981; left to the US to continue his studies, earning a MA in Construction Management in 1984 and a PhD in Industrial Engineering in 1991; gained US residency rights while staying there; returned to Jordan and was elected as Chairman of Hamas’ politburo in Jordan in 1991; was expelled from Jordan in July 1995 and arrested by US authorities at New York’s JFK International Airport “for plotting acts of terrorism” but without any charge; spent 22 months in a solitary confinement; released for lack of evidence and returned to Jordan in May 1997; a US federal court ordered to extradite him to Israel upon Israeli requests in early 1997, but then Israeli authorities preferred not to receive him; was subsequently deported to Jordan in May 1997; became Deputy Chairman of the Hamas politburo; was arrested again and expelled when the Jordanian government closed the Hamas offices in Aug. 1999; now operates from Damascus; led the Hamas delegation to the Fateh-Hamas talks in Cairo in Nov. 2002, aimed at ironing out tensions between the two factions, strengthen the Al-Aqsa Intifada and halt suicide attacks in Israel; was one of six senior Hamas leaders named by US Pres. Bush in Aug. 2003 as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, freezing any assets in the US and prohibiting transactions with US nationals; founding and Board member of the Al-Quds Foundation.
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Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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