Assad Saftawi
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Assad Saftawi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 June 1935 |
| Died | 21 October 1993 (aged 58) Gaza Strip, Palestine |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Burial place | Gaza City, Palestine |
| Years active | 1950s–1993 |
| Movement | Fatah |
Assad Saftawi (1935–1993) was a Palestinian cofounder and leader of the Fatah movement who was shot to death by three masked hitmen in the Gaza Strip on 21 October 1993. The assassination remains unsolved.
Saftawi was born in Al Majdal on 14 June 1935.[1] His family left the city during the Nakba in 1948 and settled in Gaza.[1][2] He attended the Teachers' Training College in Cairo between 1954 and 1957 and obtained a degree in teaching.[1]
During his studies in Cairo Saftawi became a member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and met Salah Khalaf.[2] He was part of the Gaza branch in the group which also included Khalaf, Fathi Balawi, Khalil Al Wazir, Youssef Al Najjar and Kamal Adwan.[3] Saftawi later left the Muslim Brotherhood and was involved in the establishment of the Fatah movement along with Khalaf and Yasser Arafat.[4]
Saftawi was expelled from Egypt due to his Brotherhood membership in 1957.[5] He was put under house arrest by the Egyptian government in Gaza until 1967.[5]
Career and activities
Following his release from house arrest Saftawi worked as a teacher in the Gaza Strip and began to work as a head teacher in UNRWA schools in Al Shati in 1970.[1] He was detained by Israel in 1973 for his Fatah membership and was released after five years.[4] Later, he was arrested again several times, including his detention without formal charges for three months in 1988 during the first Intifada.[1][5] He was the headmaster of an UNRWA school in Burj refuge camp.[6]
Saftawi headed the Fatah group in the Gaza Strip.[7] He was a candidate for the presidency of the Red Crescent in Gaza in December 1979. He lost the election against Abdel Shafe.[3] Saftawi developed a 11-point peace proposal in 1989 which he presented in Cairo. He managed to visit the city when the Israeli government lifted the travel restrictions on him.[4]
Views
Throughout his career in Fatah Saftawi was close to Salah Khalaf.[3] However, Khalaf opposed his peace proposal in 1989.[8] Saftawi was a moderate member of the Fatah and was a negotiator between the Islamic and nationalist movements of the Palestinian resistance.[4] He openly supported a peaceful solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the peace agreement with Israel signed in Washington, D.C. on 13 September 1993.[9][10]
For Saftawi majority of the people living in Gaza preferred an active resistance as a response to the Israeli occupation and therefore, became supporters of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad instead of the Muslim Brotherhood.[10] He also argued that the Islamic resistance movements were actively supported by the Israeli authorities from the early 1970s to reduce the Palestinian people's backing of the nationalist movements.[10]
