Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Hanna Mikhail, (born in Ramallah on October 24, 1935, died in Lebanon in July 1976), known by his nom de guerre “Abu Omar”, is an activist and academic researcher, a Palestinian politician and a leader in the Fatah movement, who played a role in what was known as “the left of Fatah.” » In the seventies, he was among those who drew the intellectual line of the student battalion.
Childhood and education
Hanna Mikhail was born in Ramallah in 1935. He completed his studies at Friends Schools, and in 1952 received a scholarship from Haverford College in the United States of America, and completed his graduate studies at Harvard University, from which he obtained a doctorate in political science.
In the late fifties he got to know Edward Said and their relationship solidified. Edward Said says after his first meeting with Hanna: "I was immediately impressed by his great humility and politeness, in addition to his stinging mind."
Dr. Hanna Mikhail began teaching political science at Princeton University, then moved to the University of Washington, and contributed to introducing Arab issues and the Palestinian cause in particular.
His political activity
in Jordan
Hanna Mikhail left the United States in 1969 and joined the Palestinian revolution. He supervised the organization of the central media apparatus in the Fatah movement in Jordan. He followed up on external contacts with figures and forces in Western Europe, where he contributed to the establishment of friendship committees and a network of contacts. He also participated in holding seminars and festivals. And he contributed to the program for educating the cubs, and to the political authorization apparatus specialized in mobilizing and educating the members of the movement.
He participated in the events of Black September in 1970, which took place between the Palestinian resistance and the Jordanian army.
international solidarity
He managed to establish the strongest relations with the French, Italian and American left. He had a strong friendship with the well-known French writer Jean Genet, who wrote about the fedayeen in Jordan and about Abu Omar, the book "The Lover of Fedayeen."
Member of the jury in the Second Russell International Court on Latin America and the only Arab member of it between 1971-1976.
In Lebanon
At the end of the summer of 1971, he moved to Beirut and joined the Palestinian Research Center, the editorial family of a Palestinian affairs magazine, and the Palestinian Planning Center.
became dr. Hanna Mikhail is a member of the Lebanon Leadership Committee, responsible for women's and students' affairs (1973 - 1975) and has written on the issue of women's liberation, and contributed to the re-establishment of the women's organization on the Lebanese scene.
He also became a leading member of the western sector responsible for managing the work in the occupied territories, headed by Kamal Adwan and his deputy, Sakhr Habash.
left open
He contributed to the formation of what was known as the National Democratic Movement within the Fatah movement, which began to form in its third conference in Damascus in 1971, where the exit from Jordan prompted us to think about alternative options, and he cooperated with Abu Khaled al-Amlah, Abu Musa and Elias Shufani in what was known as the Group of the Hundred.
Together with Munir Shafiq, Naji Alloush and Samih Abu Kweik (Qadri) he was responsible for the political courses in the Masyaf camp (near Hama in Syria), which served as a focus for the opposition movement in "Fatah", which witnessed a heated debate between student cadres and Yasser Arafat about the operation settlement and its feasibility.
He was one of the advocates of establishing a leftist, democratic and revolutionary movement within the Fatah movement; A current that embraces the idea of armed struggle, embraces both Arab nationalism and Marxism, stands against political settlements for the Palestine question, and opposes the formation of a Marxist party in a peasant community. In September 1975, he wrote the intellectual movement document entitled “Initial Notes on the Arab Revolution,” in which he aspired to establish a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist militant party, and then establish a united Arab communist party in the longer term.
Abu Omar joined a military course in Vietnam in 1975 for a period of six months, which left its mark on him a lot and tried to transfer some of the experiences of the Vietnamese to the Palestinian revolution. This course was led by Abdel Hamid Weshahi, known as “Naim”, who disappeared with him in 1976. He opposed the political settlement line and considered what was known At the time, the phased program, which he considered, would lead to "surrender in stages."
his marriage
He met Jihan Al-Helou in 1969, and she was involved in Fatah and the General Union of Palestinian Women at the time, and they married in 1972.
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Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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