Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Jamal Omar Sourani (1923–2008) is a Palestinian politician and lawyer . He was born in Gaza City, studied elementary school there, and finished high school at the English Zion School in Jerusalem in 1942. He holds a BA in Political Science from the American University of Beirut in 1946, and a law degree from Ain Shams University in Cairo in 1961. He was the head of the Palestinian Bar Association in 1967.
Awarded the Star of Honor , High Class, by President Mahmoud Abbas in 2018.
His life
He worked in the office of the Arab Higher Committee in Jerusalem and was the committee's representative in Gaza. He also followed the events of the Nakba as a young man and joined the Holy Jihad Forces and was an assistant to its commander in southern Palestine. He participated in carrying out operations against the Zionist settlements in 1948, then took over the secretariat of the Supreme Islamic Council in Gaza. He joined the Palestinian fighters in the battles of Iraq Suwaydan in the Gaza Strip and was arrested for his participation in leading the national resistance against the Israeli occupation in the tripartite aggression on Egypt and the Gaza Strip in 1956. He attended the first Palestinian conference in Jerusalem in 1964. One of the most important decisions of the conference was the announcement of the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization , and Sourani became its representative in Cairo. The Egyptian administration suspended him from his work in the Legislative Council and exiled him to Damascus after he objected to the decision of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to visit Jerusalem in 1977. After the Oslo Accords, he resigned from his positions in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
His contributions
Al-Sourani contributed to the establishment of several institutions in the Gaza Strip, including: the Wounded Fighter Association in 1949, and the Palestinian Popular Club, which he headed between 1949 and 1954. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Arab National Union in 1962, one of the founders of the General Union of Palestinian Jurists and its president in 1971, a member of the International Jurists Union and Assistant Secretary of the Arab Lawyers Union. He participated in the declaration of the Independence Document at the Palestinian National Council Conference in Algeria in 1988.
His positions
Al-Sourani held several important positions, including:
He was a member of the Legislative Council and was responsible for its legal committee at the same time. He also opposed refugee settlement projects.
Member of the Palestinian National Council .
Member of the Executive Committee and its Secretary for several sessions between (1966-1996), its representative in the League of Arab States and head of its delegation in more than one regional and international conference.
His death
He died after a struggle with Alzheimer's disease in Egypt on April 22, 2008, and was buried in Fayoum Governorate . President Mahmoud Abbas mourned him: "Death has taken from us a dutiful son of this people, and a leader from that generation of early leaders who carried the Palestinian cause wherever they went, and carried the dream of our people and toured with it in all parts of the world, and joined the arenas of Palestinian national action in the prime of his youth, where he was one of the first fighters who rose up to defend the land and the holy sites, and he was an officer in the Salvation Army ." The Popular Struggle Front mourned him and said: "With the death of Al-Sourani, Palestine has lost a national leader who never skimped on giving to his homeland and its national cause, and it sent condolences to the family of the deceased and to all our people."
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Achievements and Awards
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