Haider Abdul Shafi, a prominent Palestinian leader dies in Gaza

Tuesday September 25, 2007 12:00 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC News george at imemc dot org

Dr. Haidar Abdul Shafi, a prominent Palestinian leader died after two years of struggle against cancer in Gaza hospital on Tuesday morning.

Abdul Shafi, 88, was a highly respected secular nationalist leader and non-partisan figure in Gaza, although he was close the Palestinian People’s Party (former communist Party); He is also a founding member of the Palestinian National Initiative (Mubadara) , launched in Ramallah in January 2002, together with Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, its secretary General.

He was born in Gaza in 1919; received his early education in Gaza, secondary education at the Arab College in Jerusalem, graduating in 1936, moved to Lebanon to study Medicine at the Arab University of Beirut (AUB), graduating with a MD in 1943.

While in Beirut, he joined the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM). After graduation he worked in the British Government Hospital of Jaffa and joined Jaish Al-Badiah (Desert Army) of the British Jordanian Army in 1944 as medical officer. He returned to Gaza in 1945 and opened a private practice; co-founder and member of the Arab Medical Society since 1945; participated in the first Palestine Medical Congress in 1946. He provided medical aid to Palestinian guerillas in the clashes that erupted in the wake of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, then helped in humanitarian relief efforts until UNRWA was established in 1951; left for further studies in surgery at the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, US returning in 1954 and worked as surgeon at the Tal Zahur Hospital in Gaza.

In 1956 he was named member of a municipal council installed by Israel during its invasion of Gaza, but refused to serve in the council. He was later appointed by the Egyptians as Director for Medical Services in the Gaza Strip, 1957-60, then returned to private practice.

Abdul Shafi became head of the first Gaza Parliament's Legislative Council from 1962-65; member of the first all-Palestinian conference in Jerusalem in 1964, which established the PLO, and elected one of three assistants to the first PLO chair Ahmed Shuqairi and became member of the first PLO Executive Committee established in August of 1964 and member of the opposition against Shuqairi. He volunteered at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza during the War of 1967. He was detained by Israel in 1967 and in 1969 expelled for three months to Nahal, Sinai, and in September 1970 deported for two months to Lebanon all for support of PLO activities.

He founded the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza in 1972 and served as its head since; prevented from leaving Gaza after publicly opposing the 1978 Camp David talks.

He headed the Palestinian team of the Palestinian-Jordanian delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference in Oct. 1991; led the Palestinian negotiation team for 22 months in the subsequent Washington talks; called for a referendum in the OPT on whether or not to pursue the peace process in September 1992. He resigned in April 1993 (over the issue of settlements), then resumed position under pressure but eventually left the Palestinian negotiating team over the Oslo Accords, predicting its collapse from the outset. He was strong critic of the lack of democracy within the PLO; led a delegation to Tunis in January 1994 to demand that Arafat share power and set up collective leadership.

He was among the Palestinian figures from various political backgrounds who met in Amman in Dec. 1994 to establish the Palestinian Democratic Party; elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in 1996 (Gaza Constituency); ran for the post of PLC speaker, but lost to Ahmed Qurei'a by 57-31 votes; became head of the PLC's Political Committee; walked out of the April 1996 PNC meeting after being denied to express his opinion for not amending the PNC Charter until Israel gave reciprocal recognition. He resigned from PLC in October 1997 on the grounds that it lacked real power to change the Palestinians' situation and initiated unity talks for all factions in Gaza in April 1998.

He was member of the Birzeit University Board of Trustees; Commissioner-General of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen's Rights (PICCR) until 2004.

Biography from: www.PASSIA.org

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