Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Mahmoud Adnan Al-Ras was born in Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on January 20, 1972, to a Palestinian refugee family originally from the occupied city of Jaffa. He completed his primary education in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and his secondary education at Khaled Al-Hassan High School, from which he graduated in 1991. He then enrolled at the Islamic University of Gaza to study economics. He has worked in the health sector since 1996.
He joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1987, and held a number of organizational positions within it. He was the head of the secondary school students' union in Khan Yunis schools during the First Intifada, a member of the student office between (1987-1990), a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, the secretary of the Student Action Front at the Islamic University between (1991-1993), a member of the Khan Yunis area leadership between (1997-2008), the head of the Khan Yunis area between (2008-2011), the head of the Youth Activity Committee, a member of the Gaza area leadership between (2013-2016), the secretary of the Gaza area for two consecutive organizational terms, the head of the Popular Front in the Gaza area since 2022, and a member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front since 2022.
Al-Ras believes that the Oslo Accords were a crime against the Palestinian people, and that their main objective was to replace the PLO and its legitimacy with the Palestinian Authority. He argues that the settlement movement succeeded in hollowing out the PLO, turning it into an institution of the Authority, stripping it of its charter and legitimacy, and considering it a tool of oppression. Therefore, he believes there can be no partnership with an authority that adheres to the agreements of the occupation and denies the will of the Palestinian people to resist. He considers its representation to be nothing more than a deficient, dictatorial representation. He describes the national relations between the various Palestinian currents and factions as fluid, fluctuating between agreement and disagreement, as there is no unified national charter governing these relations. In contrast, he notes that the National Relations Committee in the Gaza Strip sometimes plays a positive role, but it does not establish a radical solution to the problems facing national relations. He affirms the legitimacy and necessity of armed resistance against the occupation, considering it the foundation and the most effective, without contradicting all other forms of resistance. He calls for the integration of these forms and making them a way of life. He believes that there is no settlement with the occupation, and the only settlement will be the removal of the Zionist entity. He believes in the inevitability of victory over the occupation, especially since Palestine has witnessed all kinds of invasions, and all the occupiers have gone and it has remained. He sees that the conflict with the occupation is in its essence existential and not religious in nature as some believe, because the Palestinians are fighting for a land and not for a belief. He believes that despite the tragic nature of the Palestinian political scene, the Palestinian people are still continuing the struggle, and the Battle of the Sword of Jerusalem confirmed the unity of this people and their belief in their cause in all places where they are present. Also, the occupied interior rose from the rubble of pressures after its national identity was subjected to great shattering.
The leader believes in a comprehensive solution: the liberation of all of historical Palestine and the return of refugees to their homes from which they were displaced. He considers the unity of the Palestinian people and agreement on a strategy to confront the occupation to be the beginning of liberation. He calls for creating arenas of confrontation and engagement with the enemy everywhere, in addition to utilizing diplomacy, especially given the changing landscape and the erosion of American hegemony. He demands that the Palestinian cause be presented to the world in a unified manner so that it changes its perspective on the Palestinian issue. He also stresses the necessity of including Palestinians in refugee camps and the diaspora in the circles of engagement with the occupation, as they are subjected to massacres and tragedies and are deprived of political and national participation in Palestinian decision-making. He believes that there is no Palestinian political system, but rather a complex dictatorship and oppression by the occupation and two authorities with diminished sovereignty. This situation denies the will of the Palestinian people in elections and their right to choose their leadership and representatives. He sees the Arab situation as characterized by normalization and collapse, and believes that Arab regimes are tied to the existence of the occupation and will disappear with its demise, which pushes them towards peace agreements with it. However, hope remains with the Arab peoples, for whom the Palestinian cause is still alive. In it, and the proof of that is the march of the people from Iraq, Syria and Jordan during the Battle of the Sword of Jerusalem, and the revival of the issue in the Qatar World Cup, therefore the national dimension of the Palestinian issue must be restored, because the struggle will be incomplete without Arab support.
Source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To