Personal Info
- Country of residence: Portugal
Information
Salah al-Din Muhammad Abd al-Hamid Abd al-Ati was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, to a Palestinian refugee family originally from the depopulated village of Yibna in the Ramla district, on May 10, 1975. He is married and has four children. He attended Abu Hussein Elementary School for Boys and al-Fakhura Preparatory School for Boys, and al-Faluja Secondary School and Halima al-Sa'diyya Secondary School, graduating from the latter in the science stream in 1990. He earned a bachelor's degree in law from the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar University in Gaza in 1996, a master's degree in political science from the Institute of Regional Studies at Al-Quds University/Abu Dis in 2006, and a doctorate from the Institute of Research and Studies in Cairo.
Abdel-Aati worked as Director of Programs and Training at the Canaan Educational Development Institute between (1997-2004), Director of the Freedom Office for Training and Legal Consultations in Gaza between (2003-2008), Vice President of the Aisha Association for the Protection of Women and Children between (2010-2018), Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Heritage Protection and Cultural Development Association between (2008-2010), Vice President of the Women’s Studies Association between (2009-2012), Director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip between (2014-2015), Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies - Masarat / Gaza Strip Branch between (2015-2019), Advisor to the Finnish Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) in Palestine in 2019, Founder of the Palestinian Youth Parliament and the Children’s Parliament, and Vice President of the International Federation of Youth in Budapest.
Abdel-Aati joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at the beginning of the First Intifada in late 1987. He was among the Ghassan Kanafani Vanguard (an organizational body affiliated with the Front), responsible for middle and high school students, then a leader in the Progressive Student Action Front, then responsible for youth in the Popular Front inside and outside Palestine, and a representative of the Front in the General Union of Palestinian Students. He rose in the organizational ladder within the Front until he became a member of its Central Committee, but he left it in 2014.
He obtained membership in a number of institutions and councils, including: the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Institute for Middle East Studies, the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Association for Development and Reconstruction “Bader”, the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Center for Development and Human Rights, he is the founder of the Palestinian Youth Council, a participating member in preparing the Human Development Report with Birzeit University - Development Studies Program, a member of the World Organization for Human Rights, a member of the Arab Lawyers Union, and a member of the Palestinian Bar Association.
Abdel-Aati has published a number of studies, research papers, and books, including: Palestinian Youth Between Reality and Ambition (1999), Local Governance and Local Bodies in Palestine (2002), The Agricultural Sector in Palestine and the Restriction of Their Rights, Secularism and Fundamentalism in Arab Society, Cultural Globalization, International Protection for Palestinians, Ways to Prosecute Israeli War Criminals, Tolerance in Arab Society (joint), and On Love and Homeland. He has also received many certificates of appreciation and various awards from Palestinian, Arab, and international human rights organizations.
Abdel-Aati believes in full national rights and believes that solutions should not be framed within a framework of confrontation. If the Palestinians are unable to obtain the minimum national rights, then the solution of a state within the borders of June 4, 1967, must be adhered to until the full realization of historical Palestine is achieved. He rejects any other solutions that could diminish the rights of the Palestinian people, such as building separate entities, and calls for the formation of a national movement that transcends ideology as a tool to resolve the crisis of the national movement.
He considers the Oslo Accords a strategic mistake that diminished the rights of the Palestinian people, laid the foundations for a national authority linked to the Israeli occupation economically and militarily, and opened the door to normalization. He believes that national partnership is absent, and that the continuation of the Palestinian division could lead to the dissolution of the Palestinian cause. He calls for strengthening partnership as a national value, agreeing on the foundations of partnership, holding comprehensive elections for all representative bodies after agreeing on the national program and the struggle strategy, organizing the Palestinian internal situation, restoring national unity, rebuilding the PLO as the legitimate representative of all Palestinians, presenting a model of good management of public resources, strengthening the people's resilience, and building on development plans that promote a culture of resistance and an economy that is liberated from the occupation. He believes that all forms of resistance are necessary, and that a national resistance army must be formed, and all forms of struggle—legal, popular, artistic, and media-related—must be developed.
Abdel-Aati suffered under the Israeli occupation; he was arrested three times by the occupation between (1989-1991), was wounded in the First Intifada by a dumdum bullet in the leg, the building in which his apartment was located was bombed in the 2014 war, his house was demolished by the occupation forces’ bombing in the 2021 war, and he was repeatedly prevented from traveling three times and is still prohibited from traveling to the West Bank.
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