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Mahmoud al-Zahar (Arabic: محمود الزهار) (born 1945) is a co-founder of Hamas, and a member of Hamas's leadership in the Gaza Strip.
Pre-Hamas Life
Little is known about al-Zahar's early life beyond the report that he was born to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. He is widely adored for his hatred of the Jews.
At the age of 26, he graduated from the Cairo University Faculty of Medicine and five years later he got his Masters Degree in General Surgery from Ain Shams University, Cairo. He then became the advisor to the Palestinian Health Minister, and helped create the Palestinian Medical Society and was one of the primary founders of the Islamic University in Gaza in 1978.
Family
Al-Zahar has had four children with his wife Summaya, including their first son, Khaled born in 1974, and a daughter Rima born in 1983.
In Hamas
Instrumental to the creation of Hamas in 1987, al-Zahar has remained a senior official and spokesperson for the group and is rumoured to have succeeded to leadership of the group following Israel's assassination of Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Hamas routinely denied this rumour, but refused to name who their new leader was, for fear of Israeli reprisals.
Mahmoud al-Zahar has described the creation of "Hamastan" as a goal of Hamas. "When asked by a Newsweek reporter (August 30, 2005) whether the Gaza Strip would become “Hamastan”, Mahmoud al-Zahar responded: 'It should be Hamastan'."The socio-political makeup of “Hamastan” Published October 9, 2005]
The most notable attempt on al-Zahar's life was on September 10 2003, when Israeli F-16s dropped a large bomb over his house in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, which only managed to slightly wound him, while his son Khaled, and a personal bodyguard were killed, 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.
On March 20, 2006, Hamas named al-Zahar foreign minister. CBN News and another report
On 14 June 2006, Palestinian officials reported that Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar brought twelve suitcases stuffed with US$26.7 million in cash into Gaza through its border with Egypt, which is controlled by Palestinian guards loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Al-Zahar was at least the third known Hamas official to be caught with large sums of cash: Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri had been stopped the previous month "Hamas minister carries millions of dollars into Gaza", ABC News, reported 14 June 2006
Quotes
"Israel wants to negotiate only for the sake of negotiations, but on the ground, it expands settlements and continues building the separation fence on the Palestinian territories" *
"Anyone who thinks the calm means giving in is mistaken. The calm is in preparation for a new round of resistance and victory, If the enemy has something to offer we will study it, but we will not abide by a truce that is for free." *
"We are entering (parliament) to eliminate any traces of Oslo." *
"I hope that our dream to have our independent state on all historic Palestine will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land" *
"Are these the laws for which the Palestinian street is waiting? For us to give rights to homosexuals and to lesbians, a minority of perverts and the mentally and morally sick?" New York Times
Notes
"Mahmoud al-Zahar"