Ismail Haniyeh

إسماعيل هنية Ismail Haniyeh
5th Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority
In office March 29, 2006 – June 14 2007
Preceded by	Ahmed Qurei
Succeeded by	Salam Fayyad
Born	1963 al-Shati (camp), Gaza Strip
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Hamas

Ismail Haniyeh (Arabic: إسماعيل هنية‎; sometimes transliterated as Ismail Haniya or Ismail Haniyah); (born January 1963) is a senior political leader of Hamas and former Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. In the wake of Hamas' military seizure of control of the Gaza Strip, he was dismissed from office on June 14, 2007 by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; however, he has refused to acknowledge the dismissal and continues to exercise de facto authority in the Gaza Strip^[1] and the Palestinian Legislative Council continues to recognize his authority.

Haniyeh was nominated as the candidate for Prime Minister on February 16, 2006 following the Hamas "List of Change and Reform" victory in the Palestinian legislative election of January 25, 2006 and was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 29, 2006. He resigned on February 15, 2007 as part of the process to allow a unity government between Hamas and Fatah.^[2]. He was sworn in on March 18, 2007 as head of the new cabinet.

On June 14, 2007, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh and appointed Salam Fayyad in his place. This followed action by Hamas armed forces to take control of Palestinian Authority positions that were in control of US and Israeli-armed and supported Fatah militias.^[3] The appointment of Fayyad to replace Haniyeh has been challenged as illegal, because under the Palestinian Basic Law, the President of the Palestinian Authority may dismiss a sitting prime minister, but may not appoint a replacement without the approval of the Palestinian Legislative Council. According to the law, until a new prime minister is thus appointed, the outgoing prime minister heads a caretaker government. Fayyad's appointment was never placed before, or approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council.^[4]. For this reason, Ismail Haniyeh the Hamas prime minister has continued to operate in Gaza, and be recognized as by a large number of Palestinians as the legitimate caretaker prime minister. Anis al-Qasem, the Palestinian constitutional lawyer who drafted the Basic Law, is among those who publicly declared the appointment of Fayyad to be illegal.^[5].

Biography

Haniyeh was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. His parents became refugees after they fled their homes in Majdal (what is now the city of Ashkelon in modern-day Israel) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1987, he graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature. In 1989, he was imprisoned for three years by Israeli authorities for participation in the First Intifada and membership with Hamas. Following his release in 1992, he was deported to Lebanon with Ahmed Yassin, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi and other senior Hamas politicians. A year later, he returned to Gaza and was appointed as Dean of the Islamic University.

After Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas' spiritual leader, was released from prison in 1997, Haniyeh was appointed to head his office. He was targeted by the Israeli Army for his alleged involvement in attacks against Israeli citizens. Following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003, he was slightly injured on his hand by an Israeli Air Force bomb attack attempting to eliminate the Hamas leadership. His position within Hamas continued to strengthen during the al-Aqsa Intifada due to his relationship with Yassin, and because of the assassinations of much of the Hamas leadership by the Israeli Security Forces. In December 2005, Haniyeh was elected to head the Hamas list, which won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections the following month.

On February 16, 2006, Hamas nominated Haniyeh for Palestinian Prime Minister, and was formally presented as such to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on February 20. On June 30, the Israeli government threatened to assassinate Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit unharmed. Hamas's Gaza-based political leaders, including Haniyeh, subsequently went into hiding. Early October 2006 he repeated his refusal to recognize Israel. His political adviser said he still is optimistic that an agreement with Abbas can be reached to stop a call for new elections.^[6]

On October 20, 2006, on the eve of a deal to end factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas, Haniyeh's convoy came under gunfire in Gaza and one of the cars was set on fire.^[7] Haniyeh was not hurt in the attack. Hamas sources said that this was not an assassination attempt. PNA security sources reported that the attackers were the relatives of a Fatah man killed by clashes with Hamas. ^[8]

On December 14, 2006, Haniyeh was denied entry to Gaza from Egypt at the Rafah border crossing. The border crossing was closed by European Union monitors by order of Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz. Haniyeh was returning to Gaza from his first official trip abroad as Palestinian Prime Minister. He was reported to have an estimated $30 million in cash in international donations on hand, meant for the Palestinian National Authority. Israeli authorities later stated that they would allow Haniyeh to cross the border provided he leave the money in Egypt, which would reportedly be transferred to an Arab League bank account. A gun battle between Hamas militants and the Palestinian Presidential Guard was reported at the Rafah border crossing in response to the incident. The EU monitors who operate the crossing were reportedly evacuated safely. ^[9] When Haniyeh later attempted to cross the border, an exchange of gunfire left one bodyguard dead and Haniyeh's eldest son wounded. Hamas denounced the incident as an attempt by rival Fatah on Haniyeh's life, prompting firefights in the West Bank and Gaza City between Fatah forces. Haniyeh was quoted as saying that he knew who the alleged perpetrators were, but declined to identify them and appealed for Palestinian unity. Egypt has since offered to mediate the situation.^[10]

See also: Palestinian factional violence

Response to prospective appointment

Israel decided to implement a series of punitive measures (including de facto economic sanctions) against the Palestinian Authority following the 2006 Hamas election victory. Israel's acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, announced that Israel would not transfer to the Palestinian Authority an estimated $50 million per month in tax receipts collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Haniyeh dismissed the sanctions, stating that Hamas would neither disarm nor recognize Israel.

Haniyeh expressed regret that Hamas was subjected to punitive measures, adding that "it [Israel] should have responded differently to the democracy expressed by the Palestinian people".

The Bush administration, which considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization, demanded that $50 million in unexpended foreign aid funds for the Palestinian Authority be returned to the United States, which Palestinian Economic Minister Mazen Sonokrot agreed to do. ^[11] On the loss of foreign aid from the United States and EU, Haniyeh commented that: "The West is always using its donations to apply pressure on the Palestinian people." ^[12]

References

External links

• BBC Profile
• Al Jazeera Profile
• Interview with Washington Post
• Interview with Ismail Haniyeh (English), Der Spiegel, June 12 2006