Haidar Abdel-Shafi facts for kids

Haidar Abdel-Shafi (born June 10, 1919 – died September 25, 2007) was an important Palestinian doctor, community leader, and political figure. He was well-known for leading the Palestinian group at the Madrid Conference of 1991, which aimed to bring peace to the Middle East.

Haidar Abdel-Shafi's Early Life and Education

Haidar Abdel-Shafi was born in Gaza. He was one of six children. His father, Sheikh Muheiddin Abdel-Shafi, was a respected religious leader in Gaza and Hebron.

School and University Years

Haidar went to primary school in Gaza. For his secondary education, he attended the Arab College in Jerusalem, graduating in 1936. He then studied medicine at the American University of Beirut in Beirut, graduating in 1943. While at university, he joined the Arab Nationalist Movement. This group believed in Arab nationalism and wanted to see a free Palestine.

Haidar Abdel-Shafi's Career and Community Service

Helping People Before 1948

After finishing medical school, Abdel-Shafi worked at the Municipal Hospital in Jaffa. This was during the time when Palestine was under British rule. From 1944 to 1945, he joined the British Jordanian Army. He spent the war in different places in Palestine, including Jericho and Gaza. After the war, he left the army and started his own medical practice in Gaza.

In 1945, he helped start a branch of the Palestine Medical Society. He also took part in the first medical conference in Palestine in 1946.

Supporting Refugees in 1948

In 1947, when fighting broke out between Arabs and Israelis, he helped Palestinian fighters by providing medical care. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, many refugees came to Gaza. Dr. Abdel-Shafi opened a clinic to help them. He worked closely with the Quakers, a group that provided aid. Later, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was set up in 1951 to continue this help.

Life and Leadership from 1948 to 1967

In 1951, Haidar Abdel-Shafi went to study medicine in the United States, at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. He returned to Gaza in 1954. By then, Gaza was under the control of Egypt. He worked as a surgeon at Tal Zahur Hospital. In 1956, when Israel took control of the Gaza Strip, Dr. Abdel-Shafi became one of ten members of the new municipal council.

Family and Medical Leadership

In 1957, Dr. Abdel-Shafi married Hoda Khalidi. She came from a well-known family in Jerusalem. From 1957 to 1960, he was appointed as the Head of Medical Services in the Gaza Strip. During this time, he became a close friend of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of Egypt. In 1960, he went back to his private medical practice.

Political Roles

From 1962, he served for two years as the chairman of the first Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza. In 1964, he was a delegate to the first all-Palestinian conference in Jerusalem. This conference helped create the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He was also a member of the first PLO-Executive Committee from 1964 to 1965. By 1966, he was a very important PLO figure in Gaza.

Challenges and Activism from 1967 to 1991

In June 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israel took control of Gaza. During and after the war, Dr. Abdel-Shafi volunteered at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. He was briefly held by Israel because they thought he supported the military actions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This group was a part of the Arab Nationalist Movement. Dr. Abdel-Shafi said he was not a member, but he agreed with their goals.

Standing Up for His People

After he was released, he refused to work with Israel's plans to connect Gaza to Israel. In 1969, Moshe Dayan sent him away for three months to a remote village in Sinai called Nekhl. He was sent away again on September 12, 1970, this time to Lebanon for two months. This happened along with five other important leaders from Gaza. It was in response to a plane hijacking by the PFLP.

In 1972, he founded and directed the Palestine Red Crescent Society in the Gaza Strip. This organization helped Palestinians. In 1981, his clinic was burned down by some groups who disagreed with him. He also helped create the National Guidance Committee of Palestine in the late 1970s.

Speaking Out on the World Stage

During the First Intifada in May 1988, he was one of three Palestinians who spoke on the American TV show Nightline. This show was held in Jerusalem. It was a big moment because it was the first time Palestinians and high-ranking PLO members spoke directly to Israeli and Western audiences.

Peace Talks and Later Years

In 1991, Dr. Abdel-Shafi led the Palestinian group to the Madrid Peace Conference. After that, he led the Palestinian negotiation team for 22 months in talks held in Washington (1992–93).

Disagreement Over Peace Agreements

He disagreed with the Oslo peace agreement because it did not deal with the issue of Israeli settlements. He was one of the first to believe that the Oslo peace process would fail for this reason.

In 1996, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for Gaza. He received the most votes. He became the leader of the PLC's political committee. However, he resigned from the PLC in late 1997. He did this to protest what he called a failure to deal with corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Two years later, he started talks to unite all groups in Gaza. When the second Intifada began, he urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) to support it and to become more democratic by forming a government that included all groups.

Founding the Palestinian National Initiative

In 2002, he helped create the Palestinian National Initiative. He worked with Edward Said, Mustafa Barghouti, and Ibrahim Dakkak. This group aimed to combine the fight for Palestinian freedom and the return of refugees with ideas of national unity, democracy, and fairness.

On April 8, 2007, he received the Palestinian Star of Honor from President Mahmoud Abbas. This award recognized his important role as a founder and president of the Palestinian National Initiative.

Haidar Abdel-Shafi passed away from cancer in Gaza at the age of 88. His funeral was attended by many different political groups in Gaza, showing a rare moment of unity. He is survived by his wife, four children (Hind, Khaled, Tareq, Salah), and seven grandchildren.