Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Muhammad Hassan Abd al-Rahman Melhem was born on September 4, 1929 in the town of Halhul, north of Hebron. He studied in the book of Sheikh Ali Daoud Al-Ma'ara for six months in 1936, then he joined Halhul Al-Sharqiya Primary School until the fifth grade of primary school. In 1940 , he moved to Al-Rashidiya Secondary School in the city of Hebron until the second year of secondary school. He later moved to Al-Rashidiya College in Jerusalem, where in 1947 he obtained a Palestinian Leaving Certificate with honors, with distinction in chemistry, mathematics, and English. In 1969, he obtained the highest grade in the English Language Certificate Examination from the British University of Oxford. In 1970, he obtained a degree in English literature from Beirut Arab University.
Between 1947 and 1950, Melhem worked as a chemistry and mathematics teacher in Hebron. During this period, specifically in 1947 and 1948, Melhem joined the ranks of the mujahideen to defend Palestine. Where he participated in repelling the Zionist gangs in the Etzion area, Beit Netiv Diraban, and Bab al-Wad, and between 1950 - 1955 he worked for the Aramco Company - Dhahran/Saudi Arabia. From 1955 to 1976, he worked as an English language teacher at the primary and secondary levels in Hebron Governorate schools, the last of which was Al-Hussein Bin Ali School. He worked as a lecturer in the University University Association, and headed many sports, cultural and social associations and clubs.
In 1976, he was elected mayor of Halhul in the first Palestinian municipal elections after Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967; The national bloc won in all Palestinian cities and villages. The elected mayors formed the “National Steering Committee” in Palestine, and the committee included: Bassam Shakaa, Mayor of Nablus, Martyr Karim Khalaf, Mayor of Ramallah, Martyr Fahd Al-Qawasmi, Mayor of Hebron, the late Haider Abdel Shafi, and others.
The occupation authorities tried to control the municipal councils to make them an alternative to the PLO. To pass its plans against the homeland and the people in Palestine; But it failed; It resorted to assassinating some of them and deporting others. Muhammad Hassan Melhem was one of those who were attempted to be assassinated, and among those who were deported to southern Lebanon, accompanied by the martyr Fahd al-Qawasmi and Sheikh Rajab Bayoud al-Tamimi in 1980 .
He returned to Palestine and was imprisoned in Ramla prison and tried. Then he was deported to Lebanon for the second time in less than a year.
Melhem became a member of the Palestinian National Council for the occupied Palestinian homeland at the seventeenth session of the Palestinian National Council, which was held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on November 22-29, 1984. He was also elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and a member of the Palestinian Central Council. Where he served as head of the Education Department, and after the assassination of the martyr Fahd Al-Qawasmi, he also served as head of the Occupied Homeland Department. Re-elected in the eighteenth and nineteenth sessions 1988-1991; Between 1991 and 1996, he was appointed head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics abroad
He returned to Palestine in 1996 after being deported for more than 16 years. He was appointed as an advisor to President Yasser Arafat for municipal affairs, and continued until his retirement in 2006.
He passed away to his Lord on 7/17/2021 at the age of 92 years. The Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, mourned the former member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Muhammad Melhem, and praised the merits of the deceased, who spent his life defending the rights of our people and fighting for freedom and independence .
Source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To