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| Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians: Biography Of Sa'id Hamami | eMail to a friend
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Posted on November 12, 2000
Hamami, Sa'id
diplomat
1941-1978 Jaffa
Sa'id Hamami was born in the Palestinian coastal town of JAFFA during the final decade of the British PALESTINE MANDATE. In 1948, his family was forced into exile as a result of the ARAB-ISRAELI WAR OF 1948 and settled in Amman, JORDAN, where Hamami completed his primary and secondary education.
Hamami subsequently enrolled at the University of Damascus, where he graduated with a B.A. in English literature in the early 1960s. He thereafter worked as a journalist and teacher.
Hamami joined the Palestine National Liberation Movement (FATAH) in 1967 and was for some time active in its military wing, AL-ASIFA ("The Storm"). In February 1969 he was appointed a Fatah delegate to the PALESTINE NATIONAL COUNCIL (PNC), the parliament-in-exile of the PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO), indicating that he rather quickly became one of the movement's senior cadres.
In 1972, Hamami was appointed the PLO's first representative to the United Kingdom. Because the United Kingdom did not recognize the PLO and would not allow the organization to open an office on British territory, Hamami's official position was that of director of the Palestine Information Office of the Office of the ARAB LEAGUE in London. He was nevertheless considered an effective diplomat and articulate spokesperson and in addition to numerous political contacts developed extensive relations with the British press and intelligentsia.
Particularly after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Hamami's presence in London coincided with increasing European support for Palestinian rights and growing Palestinian acceptance of a negotiated settlement to the ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT. Hamami not only benefited from these trends but also actively encouraged them. In important articles published in the November 16 and December 17, 1973, editions of The nmes of London, Hamami emerged as the first Palestinian official to call openly for "mutual recognition" between ISRAEL and the Palestinians. It is inconceivable that he could have done so without the personal approval of the PLO chairman, YASIR ARAFAT, the more so because he was not disciplined for his statements. Contrary to Israeli claims that Hamami's conciliatory proclamations were designed to camouflage the PLO's "real" objective of destroying Israel and thus deceive his Western audience, there is no doubt that they were genuine trial balloons floated on behalf of the PLO leadership.
Hamami argued with increasing vigor for a negotiated two-state settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he believed would lay the foundation for the peaceful evolution of a secular democratic state throughout historic Palestine. In addition, he was also one of the earliest Palestinian advocates of direct contacts with Israelis, and in 1974 was the first PLO official to meet an Israeli when he met clandestinely with the Israeli journalist and parliamentarian Uri Avnery. Subsequent meetings with Avnery and other Israelis followed. Through Avnery an informal channel was established to the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, but the latter categorically rejected all messages communicated to him.
During his lifetime, Hamami emerged as the most visible Palestinian proponent of a two-state solution and dialogue with Israelis to achieve this objective. This position earned him extreme hostility in Israel, which sought to portray the PLO as terrorists unfit for recognition. Ultimately, however, he fell victim to a violent feud between the PLO and Iraq when he was
assassinated in London on January 4, 1978, by the Fatah Revolutionary Council, led by
Sabri al-Banna (also known as ABU NIDAL).
Hamami was buried in Amman, Jordan, and remains a symbol of hope for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.
Muin Rabbani
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Avnery, Uri. My Friend, the Enemy. Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill and Co., 1987.
Gresh, Alain. The PLO. The Struggle Within: Towards an Independent Palestinian
State, Rev. ed., trans. by A. M. Berrett. London: Zed Books, 1988.
The above was quoted from Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians edited by Philip Mattar
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