Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Brigadier General Muhammad Daoud
al-Abbasi, known as (the leader Muhammad Daoud), was born in Silwan in 1914,
and died in Jordan in 1972. He held the position of Prime Minister, and was
also appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the military government during
the events of Black September in Jordan in 1970.
his life
Muhammad Daoud was born in the
village of Silwan in the city of Jerusalem in Palestine in 1914. He worked for
many years as a police officer in the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, and
continued to do so until after 1948. In 1952 he became a member of the
Jordanian delegation to the Jordanian-Israeli Joint Armistice Committee. In
1958, he held the position of heading the joint Jordanian delegation until the
1967 war, when he was arrested by the Israeli army for 17 days before he was
deported to Amman, Jordan. He continued his work in Jordan as the head of the
Jordanian-Israeli Joint Armistice Committee until 1970.
Black September
On September 16, 1970, King Hussein
of Jordan declared martial law and appointed Brigadier General Muhammad Daoud
al-Abbasi as prime minister to lead a military government that was the first in
Jordan's history, hoping that he would be able to control the situation and end
the existing differences between the Palestinian factions and the Jordanian
army at that time. Despite efforts to defuse the tension between the Jordanian
army and the Palestinian factions, between 16 and 25 September 1970, the
escalating conflict led to the deaths of many civilians and that period was
later called Black September.
A committee at the Arab League
summit appointed Kuwaiti Minister of Defense Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem
Al-Sabah, Sudanese President Jaafar Al-Nimeiri, and Deputy Foreign Minister of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Omar Al-Saqqaf, to investigate these events
and submit a report on the cause of the clash in Amman to the Arab summit.
Meanwhile, the League of Arab States convened a meeting of all Arab heads of
state in Cairo.
Resignation
King Hussein appointed Muhammad
Daoud as his deputy to participate in the Summit Council held in Cairo, and
after only ten days of assuming the position of prime minister, and on
September 24, 1970, leader Muhammad Daoud, the Jordanian Prime Minister, sent a
letter of resignation to King Hussein, in which it stated: “… on September 15
1970 You honored me and entrusted me to the prime minister so that I and my
fellow ministers would take every possible step to save the country from the
deteriorating situation into which it was collapsing with lightning speed. Our
attempts are to knock on every door, but unfortunately for me and my colleagues,
the doors and paths were closed and prevented us from reaching the desired
goal... We found no way but to hand over power to the military governor-general
to restore order and law to the country. I saw, sir, that severe fears disturb
the attempts to end the conflict between the brothers with an army and
sacrifice, and the fears are the existence of a military government, and
although Your Majesty and the world know that my government came with one goal,
which is reform, the implementation of the agreement, and cooperation with the
precious sacrifice and all forces to repel the brutal enemy. And in order to
remove these unjustified fears, while I am the son of redemption, the son of
Palestine, and the wounded of Palestine, I carry my wounds for this day.
Muhammad Daoud submitted his
resignation from his position to the Jordanian ambassador in Cairo, Hazem
Nusseibeh, as a result of pressure and frustration at his inability to end
these growing conflicts and to avoid their devastating results. Then Muhammad
Daoud requested political asylum in Cairo after his resignation. Accordingly,
President Gamal Abdel Nasser asked Muhammad Daoud to stay in Cairo to consult
with him on Jordanian affairs. The timing of this resignation amidst all the
turbulent events and rapid developments at the time came as a surprise to many,
and there is no doubt that it had a great influence in ending these military
battles in Jordan.
his illness and death
Mohamed Daoud was admitted to
hospital in Cairo in late 1971 with a diagnosis of a brain tumour, and was
later sent to Paris to undergo brain surgery. On January 10, 1972, he returned
to the Military Hospital in Amman, and he died nine days after his return, on
Wednesday January 19. His body was transported from Amman to Jerusalem after
completing an official funeral ceremony. Prayers were performed for him at
Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, January 21, 1972, and he was buried in his hometown
of Silwan, as he wished, in the town where he was originally born and raised.
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