Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Sami Ahmed Omar Al-Ghadban, (Abu
Shadi; born on September 9, 1921 in Tulkarem - died on November 1, 2005 in
Tulkarem) was a Palestinian communist leader, politician, and leader. He was
one of the most prominent founders of the Palestinian National Liberation
League in 1944, and one of the most prominent founders of the Jordanian
Communist Party in 1951. He was a leader in the Palestinian Communist Party and
the Jordanian Communist Party, and he was elected a member of the Central
Committee of the Palestinian National Liberation League, the Central Committee
of the Jordanian Communist Party, and the Palestinian Communist Party.
his upbringing
Sami Ahmed Omar Al-Ghadban was born
in the Palestinian city of Tulkarem on September 9, 1921. He was the eldest son
of his father, who was a military officer with the rank of officer, a graduate
of the Military College in Istanbul in the early twentieth century. After his
graduation, he served his father in the Ottoman Empire.
Sami Al-Ghadban received his
education in the schools of his city, Tulkarem, until the sixth grade in 1933,
then he left school and learned the profession of sewing, after which he worked
as a tailor.
his political life
In 1936, Sami Al-Ghadban
participated in the famous strike of the Palestinians at the time, then went to
Haifa to work in it, and there he met the leaders of the labor movement and the
early communists, including Fouad Nassar, Emile Touma, Emile Habibi, Hanna Naqara
and others. In 1942 he returned to the city of Tulkarm, established the Tulkarm
Workers Union and opened a tailor shop for him.
Sami al-Ghadhban was one of the
founders of the Palestinian National Liberation League in February 1944, and
was elected a member of its central committee, along with Fouad Nassar, Emile
Touma, and Emile Habibi. He was arrested in Atlit prison, and after his
release, he returned to his activities in the Palestinian National Liberation
League.
He was arrested in 1948 by the Arab
Salvation Army, where he stayed in detention for about fifty days, then the
Jordanian authorities arrested him in late 1949, after the beginning of the
Jordanian administration’s rule in the West Bank, and placed him in Nablus
prison for a period of fourteen months. After his release, they imposed house
arrest on him for three months in the city of Nablus.
The Jordanian authorities arrested
him again in 1950 in Nablus prison, and on May 16, 1950 he declared a hunger
strike in prison with his friends, demanding his release or bringing him to
justice. The Jordanian authorities punished him by transferring him to Amman
prison for two months. After his release, he returned to practice the sewing
profession, and participated in the founding of the Jordanian Communist Party
in 1951.
He contributed to the preparations
for the Nablus demonstration led by the Communists in 1951 under the slogan “We
want bread.” His place in Tulkarem was a center for party leadership meetings.
The Jordanian authorities arrested him in Nablus prison, and he was transported
on foot from Nablus prison to Amman prison and then to Ma’an Central Prison,
where he remained. A prisoner there for eight months, then the Jordanian
authorities released him and put him under surveillance until 1956.
He participated in a great and
remarkable activity against the Baghdad Pact in 1955, and during this period he
was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Jordanian Communist Party,
and in 1957 the Jordanian authorities arrested the communists and imprisoned
them in the Al-Jafr desert prison, and the pursuit of Sami Al-Ghadban began by
the Jordanian authorities, which lasted for more than three months. Including
cordoning off his house in Tulkarem for more than three weeks while preventing
the entry of anything, including food, to force him to surrender, so he was
forced to leave Tulkarem to Damascus, at which point the Jordanian authorities
sentenced him to fifteen years imprisonment in absentia with hard labor.
Sami al-Ghadhban continued to
practice his national activities in Damascus, and his place was again
transformed into a meeting place for leaders, communists, and Palestinian and
Jordanian officers fleeing from the Jordanian authorities, in addition to the
Syrian communists. After the declaration of unity between Egypt and Syria in
1958, the Egyptian and Syrian intelligence services began to pursue and
liquidate the communists, so Sami al-Ghadhban was arrested in Mezze prison in
Damascus for about four months. Moving to Lebanon, he rented a house and shop
there in the building of his friend, Lebanese Prime Minister Saeb Salam.
In Lebanon, the Jordanian
intelligence began searching for Sami al-Ghadban, then Jordan submitted a
request to the Lebanese authorities to extradite Sami, so the Lebanese
authorities arrested him in late 1962 for the purpose of handing him over to
the Jordanian authorities, so the Lebanese Communist Party, accompanied by Saeb
Salam and Kamal Jumblatt, intervened to prevent his extradition to the
Jordanian intelligence, so the Lebanese authorities released him on the
condition that he leave From Lebanon. The leadership of the Jordanian Communist
Party suggested to Sami Al-Ghadban to leave Lebanon for Kuwait or
Czechoslovakia. During the negotiations, the unity between Syria and Egypt
broke up. Al-Ghadban and his family returned to Damascus after 1962, and once
again opened a sewing shop in the Salihiya neighborhood in Damascus.
In 1963, al-Ghadban decided to
return to the city of Tulkarem and confront the Jordanian intelligence. He told
his party comrades about his decision, saying that he “desires his children to
be raised in their homeland.” He also told them that he “would not resort, as
they suggested to him, to Moscow, Kuwait, or Prague.” Upon his arrival at the
Syrian-Jordanian border, the Syrian authorities allowed him to leave, while the
Jordanian authorities arrested him and transferred him to Amman, and after
about a month, the Jordanian intelligence released him after dropping the
sentence against him, so he arrived in Tulkarem, and in 1963 Sami reopened his
shop located in the street leading to the Khadouri Institute in the center
City.
After the Naksa War occurred in 1967
and after the end of the war, the military governor of Tulkarm summoned Sami
al-Ghadban to the headquarters of the military government in the Muqata’a
building, but al-Ghadban refused his request. Ghadban's house during the Naksa
War. In 1976, Sami Al-Ghadban supported the Palestinian National Front for
Elections, led by Helmy Hanoun. Al-Ghadban continued his national activities
until his death.
In 2003, Sami fought with the
residents of Khirbet Jbara a legal battle against the Israeli wall that
isolated the Khirbet from its surroundings, and he succeeded in that after the
Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision requiring the removal of the wall from
the Khirbet.
his personal life
In 1948, Sami Al-Ghadban married
Hind Zaki Al-Karmi, and he had ten sons and daughters: Shadi, Bilal, Khaled,
Fahd, Ghossoub, Shadia, Salam, Rajaa, Amal, and Hunaida.
his death
Sami Al-Ghadban died in the city of
Tulkarem on November 1, 2005, at the age of 84, and his body was shared the
next day, corresponding to November 2, 2005, in a huge funeral in which
thousands from all Palestinian regions participated. He was buried in the
garden of his house in the city, where he bequeathed.
On June 10, 2015, his wife, Hind
Al-Karmi, died at the age of 83, and was buried next to him, as she also
bequeathed.
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Achievements and Awards
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