Hani Al Hassan

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Abu Tarek, Abu-l-Hasan was a Fatah leader. He was born in 1939, in Haifa. He spent time as a refugee in Yarmuk camp, near Damascus, where he organised an Islamist slate, Shabab al-Aqsa, to compete in student elections. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in early 1950s. He went on to study engineering in the late 50-60s in West Germany (Darmstadt & Munich), where he worked through the Union of Palestinian Students in Europe, and acted as Fatah’s main Europe link after he merged his own commando group to Fatah in 1963 until 1967. He also served as President of GUPS from 1962. He served as regional head in Jordan briefly in early 1970, then as Salah Khalaf’s deputy in Rasd. From 1974, he acted as a political aide to Yasser Arafat, an ambassador to Tehran, and an ambassador to Amman from 1982. Retains good ties to the Gulf States. He became a member of Fatah-Central Committee in May 1980. He was criticial of the leadership's stance towards Iraq after August 1990, and at Oslo, but returned to Gaza Strip in November 1995, and became the chief political adviser to ‘Arafat as well as PLO-CC member & head of the Palestinian National Council foreign relations committee. He was appointed as Interior Minister on 29 October 2002, favouring continued resistance to occupation forces and settlers, whilst opposing attacks on civilians in Israel. Mahmud Abbas attempted to drop him from the PA cabinet, and despite ‘Arafat's resistance, he was replaced in April 2003. He is slated to act as ‘Arafat's national security adviser.