Mahmoud al-Zahar | |
|---|---|
محمود الزهار | |
.jpg) al-Zahar in 2011 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 29 March 2006 – 17 March 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Ismail Haniyeh |
| Preceded by | Nasser al-Qudwa |
| Succeeded by | Ziad Abu Amr |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1945-05-06)6 May 1945 (age 80) |
| Political party | Hamas |
| Spouse | Summaya |
| Children | 4 |
| Residence | Turkey |
| Education | |
| Profession | Physician |
Mahmoud al-Zahar (Arabic:محمود الزهار,romanized: Maḥmūd az-Zahhār; born 6 May 1945) is a Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder ofHamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in theGaza Strip. Al-Zahar served asforeign affairs minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006 (also known as theFirst Haniyeh Government) that was sworn in on 29 March 2006 and lasted until 17 March 2007.
Little is known about al-Zahar's early life beyond the fact that he was born inGaza City in 1945 to aPalestinian father and anEgyptian mother.[1]
In 1971, he graduated from theCairo University Faculty of Medicine[2] and five years later he got hismaster's degree inGeneral Surgery fromAin Shams University,Cairo.[3] He then became the adviser to the Palestinian Health Minister, and helped create the Palestinian Medical Society and was one of the primary founders of theIslamic University in Gaza in 1978.[citation needed]
Al-Zahar was instrumental in the creation ofHamas in 1987. Prior to his Hamas career, he had been a surgeon[4] and worked in Palestinian cities such asKhan Yunis, but was dismissed from this position by Israeli authorities for political reasons.[1] He was detained by Israeli authorities in 1988, and eventually exiled to Lebanon along with a large number of other Islamist activists in 1992.[5] He returned to Gaza after about a year. In response to a campaign of suicide bombings by theEzzedeen al-Qassam Brigades (EQB), on 10 September 2003 an Israeli F-16 dropped a large bomb over his house in theRimal neighborhood ofGaza, which only managed to slightly wound him, while his eldest son Khaled, and a personal bodyguard were killed,[2] and twenty others wounded including his daughter Rima. His house was destroyed, and ten other houses nearby were damaged, as well as the nearby Al-Rahman mosque. The resulting funeral was attended by over two thousand mourners, who called on Hamas to avenge the deaths.
Al-Zahar has remained a senior official and spokesperson for the group and was rumoured to have succeeded to leadership of the group followingIsrael's assassination ofAhmed Yassin in 2004. Hamas routinely denied this rumour, but refused to name who their new leader was, for fear of Israeli action. Al-Zahar was elected for Hamas to thePalestinian Legislative Council at the2006 Palestinian legislative election, and continues to be a member (as no elections for the PLC have taken place since). He wasforeign minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006 (also known as theFirst Haniyeh Government) that was sworn in on 20 March 2006. Al-Zahar's main challenge was to break the United States-led diplomatic boycott of the Haniyeh government. On 14 June 2006, Palestinian officials reported that al-Zahar brought twelve suitcases stuffed with US$26.7 million in cash into Gaza through its border with Egypt,[6] which was controlled by Palestinian Authority forces loyal to Palestinian Authority PresidentMahmoud Abbas ofFatah. Al-Zahar was at least the third known Hamas official to be caught with large sums of cash: Hamas spokesmanSami Abu Zuhri had been stopped the previous month.
On 15 January 2008, al-Zahar's son Hussam, a member of IQB, was reportedly killed in anIDF air strike[5] in a car full of Hamas fighters in northern Gaza.
In 2010, al-Zahar revealed to the press thatYasser Arafat had instructed Hamas to launch militant attacks—includingsuicide bombings—against Israel in 2000, due to peace talks not going anywhere.[7]
Al-Zahar was interviewed bySky News following the2021 Israel–Palestine crisis. He described thetwo-state solution as "a failed process" that would never be accepted by Israel and stated that the State of Israel did not have a right to exist, describing it as a "settlement". Asked about accusations that Hamas had targeted Israeli civilians, al-Zahar denied the claims, and also denied when asked that Hamas isanti-Semitic: "We are not against Jews because Jews were living this area for many centuries. I'm speaking about occupation."[8]
During the2023–present Gaza War, theUnited Kingdom placed economic sanctions on al-Zahar.[9]
During the2008–2009 Gaza War, al-Zahar, during a television broadcast, was reported to have said that the Israelis "have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine."[10] This remark was widely reported as advocating the "murder" of Jewish children worldwide.[11][12][13]Maajid Nawaz condemned the remarks as "depraved" and "perverseAl-Qaeda logic," writing that, as opposed to Hamas, "Israel does not have an active policy of deliberately capturing children to murder them, or even deliberately murdering civilians for that matter."[14] Basim Naim, the minister of health in the Hamas government in Gaza, said Zahar's statements had been misquoted and mistranslated, and that what he did was to "warn that by carrying out these barbaric massacres of children and women, and by destroying our mosques, the Zionists are creating the conditions for people to believe it is justified or legitimate to take revenge....Dr Zahar did not even mention 'Jews' in his comments".[15]
In an interview on New York's WABC radio, al-Zahar was asked by Aaron Klein to comment on the construction of the mosquePark51 near theWorld Trade Center site. Al-Zahar endorsed the building.[16][17][18]
Al-Zahar has had four children with his wife Summaya.[19] On 10 September 2003, his eldest son Khaled was killed in an Israeli air strike. His other son, a member of Hamas's military wing, theIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by Israeli fire inGaza on 15 January 2008.[20]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 2006–2007 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
