Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 2007, page 18

In Memoriam

A Great Man: Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi (1919-2007)

By Mohammed Omer

“I’M OLDER THAN President Arafat” laughed Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi during a meeting in early 2004 at the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which I assisted in organizing on behalf of an international delegation. Dr. Abdel Shafi’s political insight and critical analyses were very well received, and following the meeting most participants lined up to have their picture taken with him. That was the last time I saw Dr. Abdel Shafi. He died Sept. 25, 2007 in Gaza City, after a long and hard fought battle with colon cancer. He was 88 years old.

Born in Gaza in 1919, Haider Abdel Shafi studied medicine at the American University in Beirut. He spent his life struggling for the Palestinian cause politically, helping to establish the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1960s, and on the humanitarian level, founding the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in 1972.

The leader of the Palestinian delegation to the 1991 Madrid peace conference, he resigned from the PLO upon learning that then-Chairman Yasser Arafat had reached a secret agreement with the Israeli government (later ratified as the Oslo agreement of 1993), which Dr. Abdel Shafi considered detrimental to the Palestinian people—an opinion ultimately vindicated. He continued to speak on behalf of Palestinian rights and self-determination for the rest of his life.

Abdel Shafi served as chairman of the first Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from 1962 to 1964. More than three decades later, in 1996, he was elected to the PLC with the highest number of votes in Gaza, and became leader of the PLC’s political committee. He resigned his post two years later, citing unbridled corruption, which he considered a debilitating obstacle to progress toward statehood and Palestinian unity.

Motivated by principle rather than popularity, Abdel Shafi often found himself swimming against the tide of the Palestinian mainstream. Whether people agreed with him or not, as a well-known American commercial used to say: when Abdel Shafi spoke, people listened. Fiercely independent, his sharp wit tempered by his soft-spoken manner, he personified the stately gentleman of quiet contemplation and self-control.

Oslo remained a burr under his saddle. The contradiction between Israel’s 200 percent increase in illegal settlements and its public stance of compromise and generosity reeked of insincerity to Abdel Shafi. Peace, if betrayed, could never be restored, he warned presciently.

In the opinion of Al Hayat Daily correspondent Fathi Sabah, “Dr. Haider had a desire to work hard on his own to achieve tremendous successes for the Palestinians. But because he lacked the decision-making authority of [President Mahmoud] Abbas, he was unable to achieve all he wanted,” Sabah lamented.

“Beginning with the 1936 uprising (against the British occupation), through the partition of Palestine in 1947, Al Nakba in 1948, the wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973 in addition to two intifadas,” Sabah continued, “he’s witnessed tremendous losses and been an integral participant in the history of the Palestinian cause.”

In 2002, Dr. Abdel Shafi helped establish the Palestinian National Initiative, a civic organization advocating transparency, democracy, national unity and a corruption-free Palestinian government. This initiative is now led by Dr. Mustapha Al Barghouti.

In Dr. Abdel Shafi’s opinion, the cause of the Palestinian people revolved around the land. “What is at stake,” he emphasized, “is the survival of the Palestinian people on what is left of our olive groves and orchards, our terraced hills and peaceful valleys—our ancestral homes, our villages and our cities.”

Upon news of Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi’s death, Palestine’s warring factions united to pay homage to a great man. “He represented a nation of struggle,” read Fatah’s tribute. Hamas described Dr. Abdel Shafi as “one of the greatest figures in Palestinian history.”

Perhaps Dr. Abdel Shafi’s death will pave the way toward unity. Whatever the future holds, however, his essence endures, held lovingly in the hearts of a shattered yet resolute people.

Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >.

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