Tens of thousands mourn Hamas interior minister at Gaza funeral

Date: 16 / 01 / 2009  Time:  14:25
Gaza – Ma’an –

Tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them Hamas supporters, attended a mass funeral procession in Gaza on Friday for de facto Interior Minister, Sa'id Siyam, who was assassinated in an Israeli terrorist airstrike on Thursday.

The funeral is also in honor of Siyam’s son Muhammed, his brother Iyad, his sister-in-law and her son, all of whom were killed in the same airstrike. The strike left a massive crater where Iyad Siyam's house had stood.

A member of Hamas' senior leadership, Siyam is the highest-ranking Palestinian figure to be killed in the current Israeli offensive.

Considered a hardliner within the Hamas movement, Siyam formed the Executive Forces, a parallel, Hamas-controlled security apparatus, after Hamas was elected to power in 2006.

While he took a hard line against Fatah in internal Palestinian politics, his assassination is likely to retroactively increase his stature among Palestinians of all political factions.

“Israel has a remarkable way of turning villains into heroes, into Gods,” said one Palestinian on Thursday, a resident of Bethlehem whose family is close to Fatah. He compared Siyam’s death to the assassination of Hamas’ wheelchair-bound spiritual leader, Ahmed Yassin, in 2004.

Born in 1959 in the squalor of Gaza's Al-Shati' Refugee Camp, Siyam worked as a math and science teacher at local United Nations-run schools. He joined Hamas in the 1980s, one of its earliest members. Siyam quickly assumed leadership of the local teacher's union.

He was active in the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, against the Israeli occupation, which began in late 1987.

Israeli forces jailed Siyam several times in the 1990s, and in 1992 exiled him for a year to southern Lebanon with hundreds of other Palestinians.

In the mid-1990s, Hamas' rival, the Fatah movement of then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, established the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza, as part of interim peace deals with Israel. Siyam was jailed by Fatah-controlled PA security forces during this period.

He was elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006, winning the most votes of any candidate.

As interior minister, Siyam had trouble controlling security forces that had been formed during Arafat’s rule, and were loyal to Fatah. It was then that he set up the Executive Force, which became the core of the Hamas police force in Gaza after the takeover of Gaza in June 2007.

After the takeover, Siyam’s forces established tight, if repressive control over the Gaza Strip, shutting down militias perceived to be loyal to Fatah.

On Thursday, Muhammad Nazzal a member of the Hamas political bureau, lamented the death of Siyam in as speech broadcast from Damascus.

Aluf Benn, an Israeli military correspondent, said Israeli intelligence confirmed the presence of Siyam and his staff near his brother’s home before ordering the assassination.

Hamas announced a period of mourning over the assassination of Syam, who was a member of the movement’s politburo, in addition to his role at the de facto Interior Ministry. Syam was appointed to the post shortly after Hamas won legislative elections in 2006.

Hamas condemned the killing of Syam’s son, brother Iyad and sister-in-law, as well as her son, who was killed along with four other neighbors near the home. Ten Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, including Syam and five of his family members.

Said Siyam martyred in an Israeli occupation airstrike

 [ 15/01/2009 - 09:16 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Said Siyam, a prominent Hamas leader and Interior Minister of the elected government of Ismail Haniya, was martyred Thursday evening along with his son, his brother and his brother's wife in an Israeli airstrike at a house in the Yarmouk neighbourhood at the centre of Gaza city.

Hamas sources said that Siyam was martyred when Israeli occupation terrorist air forces bombed the house of Shaikh Eyad Siyam, the brother of Said Siyam during a visit by the latter to his brother's house.

The bodyguard of Said Seyam was also martyred in the attack along with his brother and his brother's wife.

Four other citizens from a neighbouring house were killed in the airstrike, three of them children.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli occupation airplanes fired two rockets at the house of Said Siyams brother.

Hamas mourned Said Siyam saying that leaders of the movement were always at the forefront and that Seyam has joined previous martyrs of the movement such as Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, Dr. Abdul-Aziz al-Rantisi, Ibrahim al-Maqadmah, Ismail Abu Shanab, Jamal Mansour, Jamal Salim, Salah Shehadah and Dr. Nizar al-Rayan.

Said Seyam was born on 22 July 1959 at the Shati' Rafugee camp to the west of Gaza City as his family was uprooted in 1948 from the village of Jura near the city of Asqalan.

He graduated at the Teachers College in Ramallah in 1980 with a Diploma in teaching science and math. He earned a degree in Islamic Studies from the Jerusalem Open University in 2000.

He taught at UNRWA schools in Gaza from 1980 till 2003 when he resigned as a result of harassment of the employer because of his political affiliation.

He worked as a voluntary Imam of the Yarmouk Mosque in Gaza city as well as other mosques in the Gaza Strip.

He participated in the reconciliation committees formed by late Shaikh Ahmad Yassin during the first intifada.

He was a trustee of the Islamic university, a founder member of the Future Research Centre, head of external relations department and a member of the political leadership of the Hamas movement.

He was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 and was appointed Interior Minister in the tenth PA government.

He was married and a father of six children.

Israel assassinates de facto interior minister, nine others

Date: 15 / 01 / 2009  Time:  18:32
Gaza – Ma’an/Agencies –

The Israeli terrorist forces assassinated de facto Interior Minister Sa’id Siyam in an airstrike on Thursday.

The Israeli bomb caused a massive explosion that levelled his brother's house. The blast also killed his son Muhammad Siyam, his brother Iyad Siyam, his brother’s wife and their son, and his assistant.

In addition to Siyam, a total of nine others were killed in the strike, which reportedly targeted a senior Islamic Jihad leader and the head of the Al-Qassam Brigades, an armed faction affiliated with Hamas.

Considered a hardliner within the Hamas movement, Siyam formed the Executive Forces, a parallel, Hamas-controlled security apparatus, after Hamas was elected to power in 2006.

While he took a hard line against Fatah in internal Palestinian politics, his assassination is likely to retroactively increase his stature among Palestinians of all political factions.

“Israel has a remarkable way of turning villains into heroes, into Gods,” said one Palestinian on Thursday, a resident of Bethlehem whose family is close to Fatah. He compared Siyam’s death to the assassination of Hamas’ wheelchair-bound spiritual leader, Ahmad Yasin, in 2004.

Born in 1959 in the squalor of Gaza's Ash-Shati Refugee Camp, Siyam worked as a math and science teacher at local United Nations-run schools. He joined Hamas in the 1980s, one of its earliest members. Siyam quickly assumed leadership of the local teacher's union.

He was active in the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, against the Israeli occupation, which began in late 1987.

Israeli forces jailed Siyam several times in the 1990s, and in 1992 exiled him for a year to southern Lebanon with hundreds of other Palestinians.

In the mid-1990s, Hamas' rival, the Fatah movement of then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, established the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza, as part of interim peace deals with Israel. Siyam was jailed by Fatah-controlled PA security forces during this period.

He was elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006, winning the most votes of any candidate.

As interior minister, Siyam had trouble controlling security forces that had been formed during Arafat’s rule, and were loyal to Fatah. It was then that he set up the Executive Force, which became the core of the Hamas police force in Gaza after the takeover of Gaza in June 2007.

After the takeover, Siyam’s forces established tight, if repressive control over the Gaza Strip, shutting down militias perceived to be loyal to Fatah.

On Thursday, Muhammad Nazzal a member of the Hamas political bureau, lamented the death of Siyam in as speech broadcast from Damascus.

Aluf Benn, an Israeli military correspondent, said Israeli intelligence confirmed the presence of Siyam and his staff near his brother’s home before ordering the assassination.

Hamas announced a period of mourning over the assassination of Syam, who was a member of the movement’s politburo, in addition to his role at the de facto Interior Ministry. Syam was appointed to the post shortly after Hamas won legislative elections in 2006.

Hamas condemned the killing of Syam’s son, brother Iyad and sister-in-law, as well as her son, who was killed along with four other neighbors near the home. Ten Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, including Syam and five of his family members.


***Updated 20:49 Friday, Gaza time